SABMiller plans bond issue of at least $500m

SABMiller plans to sell bonds in an offering that may include its first dollar-denominated floating-rate notes in seven years.

The the world’s second-biggest brewer may issue five-year securities with fixed and floating coupons, according to a source. The deal will be of benchmark size, typically at least $500 million, and the bonds may be rated Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and an equivalent BBB+ at Standard and Poor’s, said the source.

In June 2006, the company issued $300 million of three- year, floating notes paying 30 basis points more than the three-month London interbank offered rate.

The $4.8 of similar-maturity, fixed-rate dollar debentures ranked investment grade and sold this year by food and beverage firms including Coca-Cola have an average yield of about 2 per cent. – (Bloomberg)