SINGAPORE—San Miguel Corp. (SMC), Philippines’ largest food and drink maker, is seeking a $1.2 billion loan as it expands into mining and other industries, two bankers arranging the financing said.

The 117-year-old brewer plans to use the loan to replace existing debt, of which $750 million is denominated in dollars and the remainder in pesos, said the bankers, who declined to be identified because of confidentiality agreements.

The new loan features looser financial restrictions, or covenants, giving San Miguel, also known as SMC, the flexibility to take on more debt, the bankers said. The brewer will spend about $750 million to expand into new industries, president Ramon Ang said on July 24.

“San Miguel needs that flexibility because it is going to diversify into other industries,’’ said Olan Caperina, who invests in global equities at BPI Asset Management Inc., which manages an equivalent of $5 billion in stocks and bonds. “Adding more debt is not necessarily bad, but San Miguel needs to be clear about its strategy and the use of the funds.’’

Jane Francisco, a spokesman for SMC, couldn’t immediately reply to queries made by Bloomberg.

Shareholders backed San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco’s plan to diversify into mining, infrastructure, property, power and other assets on July 24.

The interest margin on the new loan will be tied to the ratio of debt to the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, after six months from the borrowing date, the bankers said. San Miguel must pay a higher interest if the ratio increases, the bankers said.

The five-year loan will pay 55 basis points more than the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark for corporate borrowing, for the first six months. The three-month Libor rate was fixed at 5.36 percent Monday. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

SMC’s initial interest payment is lower than the 65 basis-point premium it is paying on a $250-million loan it asked Standard Chartered Plc and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. to arrange a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Banks were paid 78 basis points more than Libor, including fees, Bloomberg data show.

In its bid to diversify its business, the company sold Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc., the nation’s largest soda maker, and Del Monte Pacific Ltd., which owns pineapple plantations, for a total of $740 million earlier this year.

San Miguel may also sell parts of its Australian businesses, which include National Foods Ltd., possibly to Kirin Holdings Co., Japan’s biggest beermaker, Cojuangco said. Melbourne-based National Foods is Australia’s biggest producer of milk and fruit juice.

SINGAPORE—San Miguel Corp. (SMC), Philippines’ largest food and drink maker, is seeking a $1.2 billion loan as it expands into mining and other industries, two bankers arranging the financing said.

US broker gives new business to RP

E*TRADE Financial Corp., one of the largest US online discount stockbrokers that cater mainly to retail clients, has outsourced its customer services to the Philippines, the office of Rep. Joseph A. Santiago said Tuesday in a statement.

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is again revising its core net income target this year from P33 billion to P34 billion on the heels of the firm’s first-half results that rode on its mobile-phone business and election-related spending.

PHILIPPINE stocks Tuesday rose the most in almost five months, rebounding from a four-day slide on speculation the US will limit losses from a housing slump.

Shares of stock in a corporation are personal property, and it is well settled that the owner, as in the case of other personal property, has an inherent right, as incident of his ownership, to sell and transfer the same at will, except insofar as the right may be restricted by the charter of the corporation or the general law, provided the transfer is in good faith, and to a person capable of assuming the obligations of a stockholder (12 Fletcher Cyc. Corp. Section 5452).