Philippines’ most indebted company San Miguel in talks for $2 billion loan

San Miguel Corp., the Philippines’ most indebted company, is in talks with at least 10 banks for a $2 billion loan as it looks to refinance a similar-sized facility maturing in December next year, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The food-to-power conglomerate is looking for a five-year debt and aims to mandate banks and start marketing the deal before year-end, said the people who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. San Miguel officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The loan discussions come amid the Philippine central bank’s push for the nation’s largest business groups to disclose their foreign-debt levels, an effort to head off potential economic risks tied to such borrowing.

San Miguel had total outstanding debt of P1.4 trillion ($24.7 billion) at the end of June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company faces its biggest debt redemptions in 2024, with over $3 billion of the total due next year.

The banks in discussions with San Miguel include Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Bank of China Ltd.’s Hong Kong branch, CTBC Bank Co., DBS Bank Ltd., ING Groep, Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Mizuho Bank Ltd., Rabobank Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the people said.

The group earlier this year raised $1.33 billion, five-year loan at 198.5 basis points over the benchmark Secured Overnight Financing Rate. — Bloomberg