San Miguel power unit to issue dollar bonds

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WEDNESDAY, 19 JANUARY 2011 19:48 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp.’s power arm, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMC Global Power), is set to issue dollar bonds to raise needed capital to fund, among others, its recent acquisitions of the contracted capacities of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, SMC said SMC Global Power has mandated ANZ, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank as joint bookrunners and joint lead managers for the planned dollar benchmark five-year bond issuance, in compliance to Regulations of the US Securities Act of 1993, as amended.

SMC said the proceeds of the bond issue will be used to fund investments in power-related assets.

SMC added that it will fund the payment or prepayment of obligations of SMC Global Power’s subsidiaries San Miguel Energy Corp., Strategic Power Development Corp., and South Premiere Power Corp., under their respective independent power producer administration agreements with Psalm.

The proceeds, according to SMC, will also be used for general corporate purposes.

SMC said SMC Global Power has filed an application for listing of the bond issue in the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.

SMC made it clear that SMC Global Power does not intend to register any securities subject to the proposed bond issue under the US Securities Act and the Philippine Securities Regulation Code. No offering of securities will be made in US, Philippines or in any other jurisdiction where such an offering is restricted or prohibited.

To date, San Miguel Energy is considered to have the largest power capacity portfolio, accounting for 28.1 percent of the Luzon grid and 21.4 percent of the national grid, according to a report from the Department of Energy in July.

San Miguel’s portfolio includes the 620-megawatt (MW) Limay combined cycle power plant and it manages the contracted capacities of the 1,000-MW Sual coal-fired power plant, 345-MW San Roque multipurpose hydro plant and the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas power plant.