Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has priced its $300-million five-year Regulation S-only United States (US) dollar-denominated senior unsecured guaranteed notes offering with a fixed coupon of 5.332 percent, payable semi-annually.
JFC, a leading food service company in the Philippines and one of the largest in Asia, disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the notes will be issued by its wholly owned subsidiary, Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL).
“This landmark transaction represents JFC’s first return to the USD primary bond market since 2020. JFC is also the first Philippine corporate issuer to access the international bond market in 2025,” the company said.
It added that the notes garnered significant investor appetite, with a final order book exceeding $2 billion and a seven-fold oversubscription rate.
This was underscored by robust participation from high-quality international accounts alongside strong domestic support—a testament to investors’ confidence in JFC’s compelling credit story and global market appeal.
The significant investor demand played a key role in allowing JFC to tighten 35 basis points (bps) from initial price guidance, eventually landing at a spread of 125 bps over the five-year US Treasury.
The notes are unrated and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. Proceeds from the offering are intended for general corporate purposes and refinancing of JWPL’s existing borrowings.
The notes offering is expected to settle on or about April 2, 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Jollibee Group Chief Financial and Risk Officer Richard Shin explained that the offering will allow Jollibee to convert this debt from perpetual to senior bonds, because senior bonds are more cost-effective versus perpetual bonds. Shin added that, “We want to do the best for our shareholders by getting the lowest cost of bonds.”
On March 24, 2025, Jollibee said JWPL has tapped J.P. Morgan Securities Asia Pte, Ltd. and Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte. as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners of the planned offering.
Jollibee has also named BPI Capital Corp. and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) Ltd. Singapore branch as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.
Jollibee is allotting ₱18 billion to ₱21 billion for capital expenditures (capex) this year. It reported 17.7-percent growth in attributable net income to ₱10.3 billion last year, from ₱8.77 billion in 2023, despite a drop in fourth-quarter earnings.
Shin said the Jollibee Group plans to open a gross of 700 to 800 stores across brands and regions.
“We expect to deliver an eight-percent to 12-percent growth in system-wide sales in 2025, with four-percent to six-percent growth in same-store sales and store-network growth of four percent to eight percent. Operating profit growth will be in the range of 10 percent to 15 percent,” he added.
At the end of December 2024, the Jollibee Group’s store network increased by 41.8 percent to 9,766 compared to a year ago: 3,382 in the Philippines and 6,384 international stores—580 in China, 369 in North America, 388 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), 850 with Highlands Coffee mainly in Vietnam, 1,232 with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL), 336 with Milksha, and 2,629 with Compose Coffee in South Korea.