Petron Corporation (Petron) has raised around PHP18 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate bonds that will be used to redeem the company’s Series A bonds, partially financing a power plant project in the Philippines. Petron raised approximately PHP9 billion from the issue of their Series E bonds due 2025 and an additional PHP9 billion from the issue of the Series F bonds due 2027. The bonds will be listed at Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corporation on October 12, 2021. The offer’s sole issue manager was BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, with joint lead bookrunners and underwriters being BDO Capital, China Bank Capital Corporation, Philippine Commercial Capital Incorporated, PNB Capital and Investment Corporation, and SB Capital Investment Corporation.
Petron intends to use the revenues from the bonds to redeem the PHP13 billion in Series A bonds, which were issued on October 27, 2016, with a fixed interest rate of 4 per cent annually. A portion of the proceeds will also be used to fund the construction of a PHP3.3 billion power plant at the company’s 180,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Limay, Bataan, to raise the power plant’s capacity from 140 MW to 184 MW.
The power plant is designed to provide the refinery with the electricity and steam, using a less expensive feedstock (petcoke) instead of more expensive fuel oil. The project is scheduled to be finished in the second half of 2022.