Jollibee completes $600M bond sale
JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. (JFC) has completed its dollar bond market debut with the issuance of $600-million guaranteed senior perpetual capital securities by its wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL).
In a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday, the listed restaurant company said the transaction was completed on Thursday after proceeds were credited to JWPL’s account. The securities are scheduled for listing at the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. on Friday.
“This transaction represents the first ever bond or perpetual securities issuance from JFC and the first time that JFC has tapped the capital markets since its Initial Public Offering in 1993,” the company said.
JFC said it originally planned to raise $400 million from the dollar-denominated bond issuance, but the offer was almost 10 times oversubscribed, pushing it to reach $600 million. This also resulted to a tightening of the final pricing to 3.9% from 4.25%.
“This marks the lowest pricing for a five-year perpetual securities issued by a Philippine company reflecting the strong demand for a JFC bond and the reputable credit standing of the company,” it said.
The securities are unrated and payable semi-annually. As perpetual bonds, the securities have no maturity date, meaning investors will not redeem their investments but will instead get a steady stream of interest payments.
JFC intends to use the proceeds from the offering to refinance its short-term debt after it acquired International Coffee and Tea, LLC last year, the operator of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf brand. The remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.
“The objective of management for this issuance is to further strengthen the balance sheet of JFC to build a stronger foundation for accelerating its growth in order to achieve its vision to become one of the top 5 restaurant companies in the world,” the company said.
In the first nine months of 2019, JFC’s earnings fell 26% to P4.53 billion due to losses in its operations of Smashburger and Red Ribbon.
Shares in JFC at the stock exchange gained P5.40 or 2.55% to close at P217 each on Friday. — Denise A. Valdez
