San Miguel unit’s P7-B bond sale swamped — underwriter

SAN MIGUEL unit South Luzon Tollway Corp.’s (SLTC) planned sale of P7.3 billion of bonds is “oversubscribed” ahead of a formal launch of the debt offer, the transaction’s underwriter said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve the debt sale, nearly two months after SLTC filed a prospectus on March 10.

“The demand was strong. It was two times oversubscribed [on the institutional side],” BDO Capital & Investment Corp. President Eduardo V. Francisco told reporters last Wednesday.

Aside from BDO Capital, the other issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners are PNB Capital and Investment Corp., and Standard Chartered Bank.

SLTC plans to raise up to P7.3 billion from the sale of bonds to prepay existing peso-denominated corporate notes, it said in its prospectus.

Asked about the timetable of the offering, Mr. Francisco said: “Once the commission approves it, we’re ready to launch the offer.”

The fixed- rate bonds will mature in 2020, 2022, and 2025, while the offer price will be 100% of face value.

SLTC was incorporated in 2000 primarily to engage in the rehabilitation, construction, and expansion of the South Luzon Expressway from the Alabang Viaduct to Lucena, Quezon. In 2006, the government awarded to it the 30-year concession to finance, design and construct the toll road.

SLTC is 80% owned by MTD Manila Expressways, Inc. and 20% held by the government through the Philippine National Construction Corp. Its ultimate parent is San Miguel Holdings Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of San Miguel Corp. —