Puregold selling P12 billion notes

MANILA, Philippines — Puregold Price Club Inc. intends to raise as much as P12 billion from the issuance of corporate notes to fund store expansion.

The company’s   board approved the corporate notes issuance Thursday.

The notes issuance of up to P12 billion is seen as an opportunistic strategy to raise long term money at low interest rates.

“The proceeds will be deployed for growth initiatives and to accelerate business expansion by opening more Puregold and S&R stores in strategic areas in order to continue to provide basic goods and essential products in those markets,” it said.

China Bank Capital Corp. has been tapped as the lead arranger and underwriter and sole bookrunner for the proposed transaction.

Puregold, the retail chain of Lucio Co, currently has 444 stores nationwide.

These include 385 Puregold stores, 20 S&R membership shopping warehouse, and 39 S&R New York Style QSR with a total net selling area of around 580,000 square meters.

In the first semester, the firm posted a 20.1 percent year-on-year increase in consolidated net income to P3.4 billion as net sales rose 15.1 percent to P81.96 billion.

Puregold early this year launched its own mobile app, which is powered by Globe Telecom.

The app enables shoppers to safely buy their groceries online and also use features such as item barcode scanning or catalog selection, store pickup and delivery.

“With the current situation, we want to help our customers to stay safe in their homes,” Puregold president Vincent Co said.