Phoenix Petroleum plans sale of P3 billion CPs

MANILA, Philippines — Listed independent oil firm Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. plans to issue up to P3 billion worth of commercial papers (CP) next month to fund its importation program.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Phoenix Petroleum said it has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its planned CP issuance, which will be the third tranche of its P10 billion debt program.

The CPs shall have a tenor of 360 days from the issue date, which is targeted on Dec. 11, and a tentative discount rate of 5.26771 percent.

It will set the final issue price on the discount rate on Nov. 28.

Phoenix Petroleum will use the net proceeds to refinance its existing short-term loans, which were used in financing regular importation of fuels and lubricants.

The oil firm has engaged PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as the underwriter/arranger for the offer.

The firm repaid the P3.5-billion CPs in June this year.

In August, Phoenix Petroleum issued P3.5 billion worth of CPs to support funding requirements for importation.

Phoenix Petroleum compay vice president for external affairs Raymond Zorrilla said the CP program has a three-year registration validity with the SEC, and can be listed through the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), the country’s trading platform for fixed income securities until 2021.