SM Investments Corporation is tapping the debt market again but will be issuing fixed-rate dollar denominated bonds this time. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Wednesday, SMIC chief financial officer Jose Sio said the firm’s board has approved the issuance and appointed Barclays Capital and Citi to be the lead managers for the issuance.

He said the determination of the timing, pricing, terms and conditions, and other features of the Bonds is delegated to management to negotiate and finalize with the lead managers.

Sio said the proceeds of the bonds will be used for general corporate purposes including refinancing of existing debt obligations. “A subsequent disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission and PSE shall be made as soon as the Board of Directors approves the final issue size, pricing, terms and conditions and other features of the Bonds,” said Sio.

SMIC had upsized its retail bond issue last June to P10 billion from the initial issue size of P5 billion due to strong demand from both institutional and retail investors.

The interest rates for SMIC’s Series A, 5-years and 1 day bonds was set at 8.25 percent per annum, and for its Series B, 7-year bonds at 9.10 percent p.a. SMIC said investment commitments totaled P13 billion, almost 3 times the bonds’ original issue size. This prompted the bonds’ joint lead underwriters to exercise their oversubscription option for the additional P5 billion bonds.

The retail bond was SMIC’s maiden foray into the domestic public debt market. The bond was rated triple “A” by the Philippine Ratings Services Corporation (PhilRatings), the highest credit rating on PhilRatings’ long-term credit rating scale.