Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. is raising $400 million from the issuance of 10-year unsecured notes with a fixed coupon rate of 4.2 percent.
AEV said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday the notes, to be issued by wholly-owned unit AEV International Pte. Ltd., would be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
“The notes are unrated, have a fixed coupon rate of 4.2 percent payable semi-annually, and are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by AEV as the guarantor,” the company said.
The settlement of the notes is set on January 16.
The company plans to use proceeds from the offering to reimburse the funds it obtained to finance the Gold Coin Group acquisition, and fund proposed offshore investments and general corporate activites.
Prior to the finalizing the terms of the notes, AEV conducted investors’ meetings and conference calls in HongKong, Singapore and London to weigh the market appetite.
It tapped The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) and Standard Chartered Bank as joint global coordinators and DBS Bank Ltd., HSBC, Mizuho Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., MUFG Securities Asia (Singapore) Limited and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and joint book-runners of the offering.
AEV in November reported plans to issue up to P10 billion in fixed rate bonds in the first half of 2020.
The P10-billion bond offering represents the second tranche from a P30-billion bond shelf registration program earlier approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
AEV chief finance officer Manuel Lozano said the company would use net proceeds from the offering to fund infrastructure and food expansion projects and and the construction of common telecommunications towers.
The conglomerate is expanding its food business with the construction of a meat processing plant and extension of the feed milling facility.
It has lined up several infrastructure projects, including the 330-million liter per day Apo-Agua bulk water project in Davao and the planned rollout of telecom towers starting this year.
AEV is one of the country’s largest conglomerates with investments in power generation, distribution and retail electricity supply, financial services, food manufacturing, real estate and infrastructure.
It posted a net income of P15.7 billion in the first nine months of 2020, down nine percent from ₱17.3 billion year-on-year, due to the lower income contribution of the power and food businesses.