Bond listings near P100-B target

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp., the operator of the country’s bond market, has already recorded P94.69 billion in new listings so far.

The amount is already near PDEx’s P100 billion target for new listings this year.

PDEx is expected to even exceed its target with SM Investment Corp.’s proposed P20 billion bond offer.

Last month, Petron Corp. made its debut in the debt market with the issuance and listing of its P20 Billion Series A bonds due 2021 and Series B bonds due 2023.

The oil refiner is part of the San Miguel Group, whose other subsidiaries, San Miguel Beer, SMC Global Power and South Luzon Tollway Corp., are also PDEx listed issuers.

With Petron’s maiden listing, the total outstanding listed issues of the San Miguel Group reached P80.11 billion, accounting for 13 percent of the overall outstanding listed bonds on PDEx.

PDEx president and COO Cesar Crisol said companies are scrambling to raise funds ahead of a possible US interest rate hike in December.

Other companies that have issued bonds this year include Metrobank with P8.65 billion in long-term papers, SM Prime Holdings (P10 billion 2026 bonds), SMC Global Power Holdings (P15 billion bonds) and Ayala Corp. (P10 billion 2023 bonds).

Ayala Land also issued P7 billion in 2023 bonds.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), meanwhile, expects capital raising activities through the bourse to hit P185 billion, same as last year’s level, said its president Hans Sicat.

Equity raised from the PSE reached P92.21 billion in January to September this year.

The Villar family’s Golden Haven Inc. was the first company to go public, raising P778 million.

It was followed by Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc., the subsidiary of Mexican cement giant Cemex and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.