Petron raises cash for expansion

Petron Corp. has more than tripled the size of a bond issue after seeing hefty demand for its notes. The company issued Php10 billion (US$207.4 million) in fixed-rate corporate notes, much more than the Php3 billion (US$62.22 million) it had planned to place with the market. The Philippine company said it has been able to raise the money to fund projects including a new unit at its oil refinery and an aggressive retail network expansion program. The oil refiner said it will add a second fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCC) at its 180,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Bataan, in the northern island of Luzon and will build more retail outlets to expand its 1,300 Philippine retail stations. (May 31, 2009)