SEC thumbs up Petron’s P17-B share offer

Petron Corp., the country’s only oil refiner, secured the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval for its plan to sell up to P17 billion worth of shares to investors.

The Ramon Ang-led company disclosed this in a filing to the local bourse on Wednesday.

The SEC’s approval covered the firm’s plan to offer up to 13 million series-4 preferred shares, valued at P1,000 apiece.

Petron can also tap its oversubscription option of up to 4 million shares if it receives strong traction from the investing public.

Last week, Petron also received the Philippine Stock Exchange’s green light for the same fundraising activity.

A publicly listed company usually sells additional shares to pump up its capital.

The oil giant’s offer period would run from Sept. 4 to Sept. 13, with the listing set on Sept. 23.

BDO Capital and Investment Corp. will be the sole issue manager for the offer. It will also be joint lead underwriter and bookrunner alongside Bank of Commerce, China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp.

The sale represents the second tranche of Petron’s shelf program covering 50 million shares.

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“The net proceeds of the offer shall be used to redeem the series 3A preferred shares, refinance maturing obligations and fund general corporate purposes, including the purchase of crude oil inventory,” the company earlier said.

The volatility of oil prices and foreign exchange rates pulled down Petron’s net income in the first six months by 2 percent to P6 billion.

Sales volume reached 69.1 million barrels in the January to June period, 20 percent higher than the volume sold in the first half of last year.

Petron supplies about 40 percent of the total fuel requirements nationwide through its refinery in Bataan. It ended the first semester with a network of around 2,600 service stations here and in Malaysia.