Petron Corp. sought permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday to sell P20 billion worth of peso-denominated fixed rate bonds.
Petron disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange the bond issue was part of an earlier shelf registration worth P40 billion approved on October 12, 2016.
The board of Petron approved early this month the sale of up to P20 billion worth of peso-denominated fixed-rate retail bonds.
The company appointed BDO Capital & Investment Corp and BPI Capital Corp. as joint issue managers, with China Banking Corp. as joint book runner and lead underwriter.
Petron officials previously announced plans to invest in a catalytic reforming unit that will pave the way for the company to produce petrochemicals, such as mixed xylene, toluene and xylene for sale to the export market.
Petron plans to complete the basic engineering design study on the unit this year and an investment decision by the first quarter next year.
The company is in talks with several technology providers, including those in South Korea, Japan and the US, over the petrochemical facility in its refinery complex in Bataan province.
Petron plans to build up a hydro treater unit at its 88,000 barrel-per-day Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia that will require investments of about $100 million.
Petron reported a net income of P9.5 billion in the first half of the year, up 16 percent from P8.2 billion year-on-year, on higher sales volumes from its Malaysia and Philippine operations.
Consolidated revenues increased 32 percent to P273.5 billion from P207 billion on year.
“We intend to fortify our leadership position as we ride on the continued economic growth of the Philippine and Malaysian markets. We continue to integrate our value chain, build up our supply and logistics capabilities, and roll-out more service stations than our competitors,” Petron president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang said earlier.
Petron attributed the higher revenues in the first six months to sustained sales volumes and higher prices of crude oil and finished products.
