Megawide lists P4-B fixed-rate bonds on PDEx

MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. listed on Wednesday P4-billion fixed-rate bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx).

“The issue received total tenders of P6.71 billion and was 2.24x oversubscribed from the P3.0-billion base issue amount during the offer period, which ran from July 28 to Aug. 05, 2022,” the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.

According to the construction company, a total of P4 billion was raised, comprised of Series A (P1.6 billion maturing in 3.5 years at a rate of 6.9506%) and Series B (P2.4 billion maturing in five years at a rate of 7.9663%).

Proceeds will be used to refinance the company’s short-term debts, fund its capital expenditures, and meet other general corporate requirements.

“Amid the global tension and local developments, the strong take-up of our maiden bonds reflects the investing community’s continued trust and confidence in Megawide’s strategic objectives and long-term direction,” Megawide Chairman and Chief Executive Edgar B. Saavedra said.

The company said RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. served as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and bookrunners for the exercise, with RCBC – Trust and Investment Group acting as trustee and Security Bank Corp. as market maker.

“Megawide’s long-term growth story, anchored on its pivot to developmental infrastructure, and financial management road map sit well with investors,” said Jose Luis F. Gomez, president and chief executive officer of RCBC Capital Corp.

“We believe this is one of the main reasons why there was a very healthy demand and oversubscription for the offer,” he added.

For his part, Megawide Group Chief Financial Officer Ramon H. Diaz said the completion of the offer was “very timely,” as the company was able to issue ahead of another policy rate hike implementation by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which could have affected the pricing.

“Aside from relieving some pressure off bank lines especially under uncertain times, we are able to stretch our maturity towers as we replace short-term with longer-term tenors,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin