Petron raises P14 billion from preferred shares offering

MANILA, Philippines — Oil giant Petron Corp. has raised P14 billion from the initial tranche of its preferred shares offering.

Petron has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a notice of completion of the offer last June 27.

The company offered 12.5 million Series 4 preferred shares, with an oversubscription option of up to 10 million preferred shares for an aggregate offer size of up to P22.5 billion.

Based on its notice, Petron said P5 billion Series 4A preferred shares were sold, together with P2.995 billion Series 4B and P6.005 billion Series 4C preferred shares.

Petron is expected to use the proceeds from the offer for the partial redemption of securities, debt refinancing, and the purchase of crude oil.

The issuance was part of the company’s 50 million Series 4 preferred shares shelf registration, which was approved by the Philippine Stock Exchange on June 7.

Petron earlier said the remaining shelf listed shares, as may be adjusted in case of a partial or non-exercise of the oversubscription option in the first tranche, would be issued in future offer tranches within the shelf period.

The company is bullish about its prospects this year as it expects full recovery in volume and revenue.

“This 2023, Petron shows continuous improvement. We are expecting a more vibrant industry as we emerge from the pandemic, and thus full recovery in terms of volume and revenue is projected,” Petron chief finance officer Emmanuel Erana said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting  in May.

Petron has a number of big projects in the pipeline, led by the construction of its own coco-methyl ester (CME) plant in its Petron Bataan Refinery Complex.

The CME plant will allow the company to produce its own CME once completed.

“With this project, we aim to achieve greater self-sufficiency, and produce renewable fuel from plant-based components. This will help ensure the stability of supply and quality of CME for our world-class diesel fuel,” Petron said.