JOLLIBEE FOODS CORP. (JFC) has set the terms for its $300-million note issuance, with the five-year senior unsecured notes carrying a fixed coupon rate of 5.332%.
The Regulation S notes will carry semi-annual interest payments, JFC said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The company said the transaction had a final orderbook exceeding $2 billion, equivalent to an oversubscription rate of seven times.
The notes will be issued by JFC’s subsidiary, Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL). The notes are unrated and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.
“The significant investor demand played a key role in allowing JFC to tighten 35 basis points (bps) from initial price guidance, eventually landing at a spread of 125bps over the five-year US Treasury,” JFC said.
“The notes offering is expected to settle on or about April 2, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions,” it added.
The company will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes and refinancing of JWPL’s existing borrowings. Regulation S issuances are securities offered outside the United States that are not registered under the US Securities Act or any US state securities laws.
“This landmark transaction represents JFC’s first return to the US dollar primary bond market since 2020. JFC is also the first Philippine corporate issuer to access the international bond market in 2025…,” JFC said.
In a separate e-mail statement, financial research firm CreditSights said it sees little room for the new JFC issuance to tighten in the secondary market.
“We expect the new Jollibee bond to price close to where we see fair value, with little room for meaningful spread compression in the secondary market,” it said.
JFC Chief Financial Officer Richard Shin said in a virtual media briefing on Tuesday that the company would convert the planned issuance to senior bonds from perpetual bonds.
“The reason for that is it’s more cost effective as a senior bond versus a perpetual bond. Our covenants are all in a very good place. We want to do best for shareholders by getting the lowest cost,” he said.
“This is our perpetual bond in the amount of $396 million that was due in January… We’ve taken the $96 million out of the $396 million and we converted that into very favorable rate term (peso) loans onshore,” he added.
JFC allotted a capital expenditure budget of P18 billion to P21 billion this year, which will be used to open up to 800 new stores.
As of end-2024, the fast-food giant has 9,766 stores globally, of which 3,382 are in the Philippines and 6,384 are international branches.
JFC shares rose by 0.34% or 80 centavos to P233.60 per share on Wednesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
