SMC to issue preferred shares

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Corp. is planning to issue up to P80 billion worth of preferred shares.

The company told the Philippine Stock Exchange its board of directors approved the registration of up to 1.066 billion Series “2” preferred shares to be sold at P75 apiece.

The shares will be issued over a period of three years.

Preferred shares refer to a class of ownership in a corporation that have a higher claim on assets and earnings than common stock. They generally have a dividend that must be paid out before dividends to common shareholders, but the shares usually do not carry voting rights.

The board approved the initial offering of as much as 400 million Series 2 preferred shares.

SMC said it would file the appropriate registration statement and prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last September, SMC raised P33.5 billion in a preferred share sale amid strong interest from investors.

The offering consisted of 446,667,000 preferred shares at P75 apiece.

Proceeds from the share sale were used for refinancing.

SMC is joining the bid for well-known European beer brands Peroni and Grolsch.

The two beer brands of SABMiller are in the market to win clearance for the Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s acquisition of SABMiller, PLC.

Anheuser-Busch InBev announced in November last year it was acquiring its rival SABMiller for about $108 billion, a deal seen to create a beer entity that would account for roughly 30 percent of the world’s beer market.