Stock News 2013: HSBC named “Best Debt House”

HK HSBC Main Building 香港滙豐總行大廈 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

British bank Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. was named “Best Debt House in the Philippines 2012” by Hong Kong-based financial magazine The Asset, winning this citation for the fifth consecutive year.

HSBC has been winning the award from this magazine as best arranger of debt deals in the Philippines since 2008 which the bank said was a “testament to the number of landmark transactions it has executed throughout the years.”

The foreign bank has pioneered some of the largest corporate transactions in the Philippines, including San Miguel Brewery’s P38.8-billion retail bond issue and San Miguel Corp.’s P80-billion preferred shares issue, the largest capital market transaction in the country so far.

HSBC also arranged a number of successful deals for the Philippines, launching its first Global Peso Note, and all of its three liability management exercises. These exercises have tempered foreign exchange risk for the country and pared down interest expense. The Philippines’ most recent P30.8-billion 10-year GPN and $1.2 billion tender offer also won Euromoney’s “Deals of the Year 2012.”

Last January, HSBC executed ICTSI’s $300-million 10-year offshore bonds, JG Summit’s $750-million 10-year offshore bonds and Petron Corp.’s $500-million perpetual bond issue.

http://business.inquirer.net/107063/hsbc-named-best-debt-house-in-ph

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Stock News 2012: Meralco to source power from SMC unit

Power (Photo credit: Chewy Chua)
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will secure part of its electricity requirements from a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

“The company’s board of directors, in its regular meeting yesterday, approved the grant of authority for the company to enter into a power supply agreement with San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC),” Meralco told the local bourse.

However, the company has yet to specify how much electricity it will buy from the SMC subsidiary.

In February, the country’s largest power distributor said it is in talks with SMC for a power supply agreement to ensure continued supply of power to its customers.

Early this year, Meralco signed a seven-year supply deal with Therma Luzon Inc., a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp. Meralco will source 350-megawatts (MW) of electricity from Therma Luzon’s 764-MW coal-fired plant in Quezon province.

Meralco wants to secure electricity from SMEC, which holds the independent power producer contract administrator license for the 1,200-MW Sual coal plant in Pangasinan.

The power distributor is locking up power supply deals amid expectations of higher electricity demand from its customers.

Meralco added 40,000 new customers in the first quarter, bringing the total to a record 5.07 million as of end-March. Meralco is indirectly controlled by Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. and partly owned by SMC.

Meralco, through unit Meralco PowerGen Corp., is building a 600-MW coal-fired power plant at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales in partnership with Aboitiz Power Corp. and the local unit of Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

It is targeted to start commercial operations in 2015, increasing available electricity in the Luzon grid.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=820919&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2012: Ayala Corp kicks off P10-B bond offer

The bonds due 2027 bear an interest rate of 6.875 percent per annum.

Tapped as underwriters for the bond issue are BPI Capital Corp., BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., ING Bank Manila, RCBC Capital Corp., SB Capital Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank.

Ayala is raising funds to support its expansion both through organic growth of its existing business lines as well as value-accretive acquisitions. This includes opportunities presented by various domestic infrastructure projects.

“We always ensure that we maintain a highly flexible funding position at the holding company level that will allow us to invest in sizable projects without impeding other value-enhancing initiatives we are currently undertaking,” Ayala treasurer Ramon Opulencia said.

“The low-interest rate environment and the robust liquidity in the system provide an ideal environment for us to be able to stretch our tenors and match the anticipated long gestation period of the investments that Ayala envisions,” he added.

Ayala earlier won the bid for the Daang Hari connector road project under the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program.

It also recently forged an agreement with Metro Pacific to jointly pursue and develop light rail transit projects in Metro Manila.

Part of the proceeds of the bond offer will also be used to prepay the company’s debt.

Ayala has been a consistent and innovative issuer in the domestic capital market over the past few years. It has pioneered investment products in the local market that provided the broader investing public, particularly retail investors, with alternative investment choices.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=66&articleId=801615

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