SMC starts bond sale with first tranche of B

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said yesterday it started a bond sale to raise as much as R60 billion through the issuance of fixedrate bonds in several tranches. San Miguel said it initially offer R20 billion worth of bonds, including R5 billion that would cover potential oversubscription. The bonds will be issued on March 1 and will have maturities of five, seven and 10 years. The company, which has interest in food, beer and liquor manufacturing, power generation, infrastructure and property development and oil refining, said the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the shelf registration of the bonds on Tuesday. SMC said the interest rate on the five-year bonds will be 4.8243% a year, 5.2840% for the sevenyear bonds and 5.7613% for the 10-year bonds. The offer will end on Feb. 20, or on a date that will be agreed upon by San Miguel and the joint lead underwriters and bookrunners. The bonds will be listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.