SMC unit may raise funds anew in 2020

SMC GLOBAL Power Holdings Corp. does not expect to conduct another bond offering this year, but the need to raise funds may take place in 2020, a company official said.

Elenita G. Go, general manager of SMC Global Power, a unit of San Miguel Corp., said she does not see any more bond offering for the company this year.

“Baka hindi na. Baka next year (Maybe not this year. Maybe next year),” she told reporters on Wednesday after the company listed P30 billion in fixed rate bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx).

She said should the company raise more funds via a bond offering, it would be used for expansion projects.

The listing of the retail bonds is the first of SMC Global Power’s P60-billion shelf-registered retail bonds. Overall, it is the company’s fourth local bond issuance, she said.

“The funds provided by these bonds come at an opportune time as our country faces the daunting challenge of ensuring that adequate and affordable supply of power is available to meet our constantly growing demand,” Ms. Go said in a speech during the listing ceremony.

She said SMC Global Power “stands ready to take on these challenges, and pursue a business model and an expansion strategy, all within a culture of excellence and innovation, that not only supports the government’s national and regional energy policies and needs, but also unequivocally show that there are better ways of conducting day-to-day business operations in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.”

Ma. Theresa B. Ravalo, president of the Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp., said that since SMC Global Power’s debut at the exchange three years ago, the company has issued and listed securities every year.

“And this year, with an oversubscribed issuance, it is a testament to the [company’s] corporate name that it is able to tap the market in a sizeable amount amid competition from large issues of financial institutions,” she said.

To date, listing for the year amounts to P116.82 billion, which reflects an increase of 152% year on year, she said.

SMC Global Power’s listing raised its portfolio of listed securities to P80 billion. For the entire San Miguel group, its total listing now amounts to P209.3 billion, accounting for 18% of the total P1.14 trillion volume of outstanding securities listed on PDEx. — V.V. Saulon