Meralco eyes offshore $ bonds

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, is eyeing to issue offshore dollar bonds as early as this month for its general funding requirements, the company said yesterday.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Meralco said it has hired Citigroup to arrange a series of fixed- income investor meetings in Singapore and Hong Kong starting today.

“Subject to market conditions, Meralco may proceed with a dollar offering,” the company said.

Meralco first vice president William Pamintuan said the company has yet to determine the amount of the offering.

 â€œIt (the amount) still has to be determined if Meralco goes ahead (with the borrowing activity) after the marketing roadshow,” he said.

Officials earlier said the company has allotted P13 billion for capital expenditures this year from P10.3 billion last year.

The company expects to post a consolidated core net income of P17 billion this year, higher than the P16 billion last year.

In the first half of the year, Meralco reported a consolidated core net income of P9.2 billion, two percent higher than the P9 billion posted in the first half of 2012.

However, Meralco said its consolidated reported net income of P9.4 billion in the first half  is three percent lower than the year-ago level, as a result of the sale of its shares in property firm Rockwell  Land Corp. last year.

Consolidated revenues stood at P141.7 billion in the first six months of 2013, 1 percent lower year-on-year partly due to  lower generation cost from power sales agreements.

Total electricity sales volume, meanwhile, grew four percent year-on-year to 16,863 gigawatt-hours during the period.

Plans to borrow have been part of Meralco’s program for the year. In February, officials said Meralco had plans to refinance existing debts of P14 to P15 billion this year through loans from local banks.