MEGAWORLD CORP. has started planning for a dollar-denominated bond offering through the appointment of banks to arrange investor calls.
In a disclosure on Wednesday, the Andrew L. Tan-led property developer said its board of directors had chosen Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC), Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd. and J.P. Morgan Securities plc for the unsecured notes.
Citigroup Global and HSBC will act as joint global coordinators, joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, while Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan will act as joint bookrunners for the plan.
The banks have started a series of fixed-income investor calls on Wednesday, after which an offering of Regulation S only, dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes may follow, depending on market conditions.
A Regulation S offering means the securities are executed in countries outside the United States.
If the issuance goes through, proceeds from the sale will be used for general corporate purposes, such as supporting the company’s capital expenditures (capex), financing land banking plans and refinancing existing loans.
Megaworld has set its capex for the year at P36 billion, lower than its original plan of P60 billion, due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak to its operations.
Its attributable earnings for the first quarter fell 9% to P3.5 billion, largely due to the impact of the pandemic to its hotel business, which revenues slid 4% to P551 million.
As of end-March, Megaworld’s interest-bearing loans and borrowings current and non-current amounted to P54.15 billion, and its bonds payable amounted to P24.7 billion.
On Wednesday, shares in Megaworld at the stock exchange added two centavos or 0.63% to close at P3.20 apiece. — Denise A. Valdez
