The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said Thursday it approved the P17-billion preferred shares offering of oil refiner Petron Corp.
The PSE said in a notice posted in its website Petron plans to offer 13 million series 4 preferred shares, with an oversubscription option for another 4 million shares at P1,000 apiece under its 50-million shares shelf-registration program.
It said the offering would run from Sept. 5 to Sept. 13. The shares will be listed on the main board of the PSE on Sept. 23, 2024.
The company said it plans to use the proceeds to redeem series 3A preferred shares, refinance maturing obligations and fund general corporate purposes, including crude oil inventory purchase.
BDO Capital & Investment Corp. will act as sole issue manager, while Bank of Commerce, BDO Capital, China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. are the joint lead underwriters and book runners.
Petron also raised P14 billion in 2023 from the initial issuance of preferred shares.
Petron is the country’s biggest oil company with a 180,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Bataan. It has a combined service station network of about 2,600 outlets in the Philippines and Malaysia.
Petron posted a flat growth in its net income in the first half of 2024 to P6 billion from P6.14 billion in the same period last year amid challenging economic conditions.
Petron is one of the four companies that are planning to raise fresh capital through the capital markets via preferred shares offering.
Other firms that previous announced plans to issue preferred shares are Arthaland Corp., Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. and San Miguel Corp.
Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. earlier reported plans to withdraw its planned P8-billion preferred shares sale.
The PSE expects more companies to tap the capital markets in the second half of 2024 on the back of improving macroeconomic conditions.
