PETRON ISSUES $500-M NEW CAPITAL SECURITIES

PETRON Corp. has completed the issuance of $ 500 million worth of undated unsubordinated capital securities that are set to be listed on the Singapore Exchange.

“[ T] his is to advise that the Company has completed today the issuance of US Dollar undated unsubordinated capital securities with an issue size of US$500 million. The Securities are expected to be listed with the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited on January 22, 2018,” the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Friday.

The oil company earlier said net proceeds from the issuance would - ing, or redemption of its outstanding undated subordinated capital securities, the repayment of debt, and for general corporate purposes including capital expenditures.

The newly issued securities will carry an initial interest rate (or distribution rate) of 4.5 percent 19, 2023.

“Subject to Condition 4.4 and Condition 4.5, the Securities will confer a right to receive distributions from the period commencing on (and including) the Issue Date to (but excluding) July 19, 2023 (the “Step Up Date”), at the Initial Rate of Distribution,” the

Petron earlier said it would repurchase up to $350 million of its $750-million outstanding undated securities listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEx), after receiving the nod of its Executive Committee to make a tender offer to holders of the 7.5-percent capital securities.

On January 17, Petron said it decided to accept for purchase an aggregate principal amount of $401.957 million of securities validly tendered with no pro rata scaling, following the expiration deadline for the tender offer at 5:00 p.m. on January 16.

Petron said $348 million in aggregate principal amount of the securities would remain outstanding after the January 22 settlement date for the tender offer.

“The Securities purchased by the Company pursuant to the Tender Offer will be cancelled,” it said.

One analyst said Petron’s issuance of new notes to finance a partial buyback of its outstand- ing securities should boost their equity portfolio.

“The move is seen to boost their equity portfolio,” Eagle Equities, Inc. research head Chris Mangun told The Manila Times in an earlier phone interview.

“They may be getting a lower rate in Singapore than Hong Kong,” Mangun said, on why the newly issued securities are being listed in Singapore.

Petron, which supplies almost 40 percent of the country’s oil requirements, has a combined retail network of almost 2,900 service are in Malaysia.

- ing and marketing company also exports different petroleum and non- fuel products to various countries including India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Pakistan, as well as to the United Arab Emirates.