By REUTERS
Malaysian energy company Petronas began road shows on Thursday to raise up to US$17 billion (RM62 billion) from conventional and Islamic bonds, or sukuk, for working capital.
State-owned Petronas met potential investors for a US$15 billion multi-currency conventional bond programme and a one-off US$2 billion US dollar-denominated sukuk issuance of US$2 billion, two sources told Reuters.
A spokesperson from Petronas confirmed the plans.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CIMB Group Holdings, Morgan Stanley MUFG, JP Morgan, and Citibank are lead arrangers, while HSBC and Deutsche Bank are playing smaller supporting roles, the sources said.
Petronas would conduct road shows in Kuala Lumpur, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York from Thursday to March 10, they added.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Thursday assigned a preliminary rating of A- to the Petronas sukuk.
The move by Petronas comes after the company announced its first quarterly loss in at least five years on Feb 27 because of the global slump in oil prices.
It stated plans to cut capital expenditure by 10% and operating expenses by up to 30% this year.
Malaysia, a net energy exporter, relies heavily on Petronas for most of its oil and gas revenue.
But weaker global oil prices have dented its income and left the Southeast Asian nation with a devalued currency and risk of a sovereign downgrade because of mounting debt from its 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) state investment fund.
The company said it would provide RM26 billion in dividends to the government this year.
— by Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah
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