San Miguel Brewery mulls P20 B bonds

MANILA, Philippines - The brewery unit of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to raise as much as P20 billion from the debt market, marking its first major fundraising in almost two years.

In a public notice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said San Miguel Brewery Inc. (SMB) is seeking the corporate regulator’s approval for the bond issuance.

“On Feb. 10, a sworn registration statement was filed with the SEC by SMB, for the registration of P15 billion fixed-rate bonds consisting of Series G and Series H bonds,” the corporate watchdog said.

SMB also has an option to increase the offering by another P5 billion in case of oversubscription, the SEC added.

The Series G bonds would mature on April 2, 2022 while the Series H bonds are due on Apr. 2, 2024.

“The proceeds thereof will be used to refinance the tranche of the peso-denominated fixed-rate Series B bonds issued by the company in 2009 maturing on April 4, 2024,” SMB said.

Early this month, SMB said its board authorized management to determine, negotiate and finalize the terms and conditions of the issuance, including the interest rates, tenor and listing date.

The last time SMB tapped the bond market was in April 2012 when it raised a total P20 billion through P3 billion worth of Series D, P10 billion Series E and P7 billion Series F bonds that carried 6.05-6.6 percent fixed interest per annum.

Last year, higher excise taxes for alcoholic beverages dragged the sales volume and earnings of SMB.

The brewer said its net income sank 17 percent to P12.5 billion from P15.1 billion in 2012. But without the impact of the foreign exchange fluctuations on the company’s dollar-denominated term facility and without non-recurring items in 2012, SMB said its consolidated net income in 2013 would have only declined 3.4 percent year-on-year.

Higher excise taxes imposed early last year took a toll on beer sales volumes, resulting in a nine-percent decline for the year as SMB was forced to raise selling prices on its major beer brands.

SMB’s net sales revenue hit P75.1 billion as it sold 204 million cases last year. In 2012, SMB’s revenues reached P75.6 billion.

In May, SMB delisted from the Philippine Stock Exchange after failing to jack up its minimum public ownership level to the 10 percent required by the local bourse.

In a series of meetings last year, parent firm San Miguel failed to urge partner Kirin Brewery Co. to sell shares to the public.

Kirin, Japan’s largest beer company, owns 48.39 percent of SMB while 51-percent stake belongs to San Miguel, which wants to retain control of the brewer.

SMB is the company behind beer brands San Miguel Pale Pilsen, Red Horse, San Mig Light and Gold Eagle.