PLN to issue $1b global bonds in second semester this year

State owned electricity company PLN plans to issue global bonds worth US$1 billion in the second semester of this year to finance the company?s growing capital expenditures, Investor Daily reported on Monday.

The bonds would be the second part of the company?s $2 billion global bonds unveiled last year. In November, last year, PLN successfully raised $1 billion from the issuance of the global bonds.

PLN?s President Director Nur Pamudji said in Jakarta last week that the state electricity company had not yet fixed the schedule for the global bond offering. He said that the launch of the second part of the global bonds would rely much on the international debt market situation.

?PLN raised $1 billion from the first part of the global bonds. The second part of the bonds also worth $1 billion will be issued this year,? he said.

PLN issued global medium term notes (GMTN) with a maturity of 10 years on November 16, 2011. The bonds which offered a coupon of 5.5 percent a year, received Ba1 rating from Moody?s International, BB from Standard & Poors and BB+ from Fitch. The bond offering was arranged by Barclays Capital and Citigroup.

PLN plans to spend up to Rp 3.6 trillion (US$400 million) in capital expenditure this year, mostly for the construction of solar power plant projects. (*)