
MANILA, Philippines – Real estate giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. plans to tap the offshore bond market as it ramps up portfolio expansion, particularly its flagship malls.
The Sy family-led developer on Monday told the exchange it had mandated HSBC, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, along with BDO Capital and Chinabank Capital as joint domestic managers, to arrange a series of fixed-income investor calls in Asia and Europe.
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SM Prime is expecting a dollar-denominated benchmark-sized Regulation S offering by subsidiary SMPHI SG Holdings Pte. Ltd. to follow the meetings. It did not disclose a definite timeline.
The notes are seen to mature in five years and will be drawn from SMPHI’s $3-billion Euro medium-term note program (EMTN).
Senior notes
Regulation S senior notes refer to debt securities offered and sold outside the United States. Its name comes from Regulation S of the US Securities Act of 1933, which stipulates the rules on offers and sales made in other countries.
Meanwhile, EMTNs, which are issued outside the United States and Canada, give issuers the flexibility to tailor their debt issuance to their specific funding needs. It likewise allows companies to tap more international investors, particularly those looking for Euro-denominated debt.
Last year, SM Prime and SM Investments Corp. jointly raised $500 million from an overseas bond offer, marking their largest bond issuance abroad in a decade.
SM Prime’s announcement comes after its subsidiary, SM Supermalls, announced plans to open five flagship malls until 2030. It is also investing P150 billion in the redevelopment of 16 existing malls and the construction of 14 new malls.