By Myrna M. Velasco Leading oil firm Petron Corporation has paid back its short-term credit facility of P6.96 billion with the Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI), the company has noted in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. The loan repayment was from proceeds of its recently concluded perpetual preferred shares-series 3 issuance which had beefed up the oil firm’s cash hoard by P20 billion. “The company paid the outstanding short-term debt from the Bank of the Philippine Islands with an aggregate amount of P6.960 billion,” Petron said, while adding that such loan facility incurred interest expense of P20.46 million. The total price for the offered preferred shares had been at P15 billion, but there had been oversubscription of P5.0 billion; hence, the total amount cornered from the offer reached P20 billion. Of the total proceeds from that shares float, Petron noted that P5.762 billion had been earmarked for general corporate purposes that had been funneled primarily for its crude procurements. “Total actual disbursement vouched for general corporate requirements such as, but not limited to, the purchase of crude oil and payment of interest expense,” the oil firm has reiterated. As of end-June, the company emphasized that the balance of the amount fetched from the preferred shares issue had been at P7.125 billion; while total disbursements hovered at P12.874 billion. The balance of P7.122 billion, the company further noted, has been allocated “for the redemption of Series 2A preferred shares, with an optional redemption date on November 3, 2019.”