MANILA, May 5 (Reuters) - Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp dropped as much as 29.5 percent early on Thursday as trading in the stock resumed following a three-week suspension to pave the way for its $900 million share and bond sale.
The stock fell to 110 pesos ($2.60) at the open to match its secondary offer price, and later slipped further to 106.10 pesos, its lowest level since November. It closed at 153 pesos on April 12, before the trading suspension was imposed.
Immediately after the stock dropped, company President Ramon Ang told local ANC television that San Miguel would not allow its share price to fall.
"We will never go below our offer price of 110, that's a guarantee from me," Ang said. But the stock continued to slip minutes after his comments.
The company sold $300 million worth of common shares in a secondary offer last month at 110 pesos, at the bottom of the 110-140 peso guidance given by bookrunners and well below the company's target levels of 200 to 250 pesos. [ID:nL3E7FI2NO]
The shares sold came from the company's treasury stock and one of its major shareholders Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. Ang said the share sale would widen the company's public float to about 15 percent from under 10 percent previously.
The stock exchange had ordered listed firms to immediately comply with the minimum public ownership requirement of 10 percent.
San Miguel also sold $600 million in 3-year exchangeable bonds, with a coupon of 2 percent and a conversion premium of 25 percent to the offer price.
It said it would use proceeds from the offer to fund a 22-billion-peso investment in infrastructure projects the government plans to put up for auction.
Apart from infrastructure, the group which dominated the local food and beverage industry for decades, has also added power, mining, telecommunications and oil refining to its stable of businesses fuel future growth.
Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd were joint global coordinators and international joint bookrunners for San Miguel's stock offer.
Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte and UBS AG were international joint bookrunners, with Daiwa Capital Markets Singapore Ltd an international co-bookrunner.
ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc, BDO Capital & Investment Corp and SB Capital Investment Corp are domestic bookrunners.
Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered were global coordinators for the bond offer, with Goldman Sachs and UBS as joint bookrunners.
($1 = 42.9 Philippine Pesos)
(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)
