Latham Advises Philippine Airlines on Landmark Guaranteed Bond Offering

Latham & Watkins has advised Philippine Airlines, the Philippines’ flag carrier and only full-service network airline, on its inaugural US$300 million 7.75% 5-year senior bond offering, to be issued through its wholly owned subsidiary, Primero Agila Limited. The bond will be guaranteed by Philippine Airlines, Inc. and Air Philippines Corporation and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

The offering attracted strong interest from a diversified global investor base generating a final orderbook of more than US$1.4 billion, representing an oversubscription of approximately 4.5 times. The transaction is the first rated high-yield bond offering by a Philippine issuer in more than a decade, the first unsecured rated high-yield bond issued by an Asian airline, and the first-ever rated airline bond issuance from South and Southeast Asia.

The Latham team was led by Hong Kong partner Benjamin Carale, Singapore partner Rajiv Gupta, and Singapore counsel Jeremy Wang, with Hong Kong associate Diana Dizon and Singapore associate Margarita del Rosario.