Converge raising P10 billion from maiden bond offering

MANILA, Philippines — Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is raising P10 billion from its maiden bond offering to fund the expansion of its fiber network.

Converge, in a stock exchange filing yesterday, said it has received the certificate of permit to offer securities for sale from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 28.

The permit is for the issuance of the company’s first P10 billion fixed rate bonds under its P20 billion shelf registration program.

The issuance consists of P5 billion on the base tranche, with an oversubscription option of up to P5 billion.

The offer period is slated from March 28 to April 1.

“The bonds have been priced at 50 basis points over Philippine 5 Year BVAL rates, at the tight end of the marketed 50 to100-basis point range, resulting in a total of 5.59 percent for the bond offering,” Converge said.

Appointed as issue manager is BDO Capital & Investment Corp., while BDO Capital & Investment and BPI Capital Corp. serve as joint lead underwriters.

Proceeds of the bond issue will be used by Converge for capital expenditures related to the expansion of its nationwide fiber network, including to new markets in Visayas and Mindanao.

“We are pleased to be able to tap the bond market to help fund the expansion of our digital infrastructure as we further widen our reach nationwide” Converge president and co-founder Grace Uy said.

Converge plans to spend around P26 billion to P28 billion this year to complete the company’s terrestrial backbone and further expand its distribution network throughout the country.