Business
African American-owned banks work with PG&E for $750 million bond sale
(PRNewswire) – San Fransico, California – As part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) employed four diverse-owned investment banks to help manage an offering of $750 million of 10-year and 30-year senior notes that closed successfully on June 14.
CastleOak Securities, an African American-owned investment bank headquartered in New York City, was one of four joint lead managers on the deal.
The co-managers included:
– African American-owned The Williams Capital Group in New York City;
– service-disabled, veteran-owned Great Pacific Securities in Southern California;
– and African American-owned Kota Global Securities in San Francisco.
In total, PG&E paid more than US$1 million to the diverse investment banks to help execute this transaction, the most fees it has ever paid to diverse banks on a single transaction.
“We were proud to work with these firms to successfully complete this major transaction,” said Kent Harvey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PG&E Corporation. “This collaboration reflects PG&E’s strong commitment to engaging diverse businesses as suppliers to PG&E.
Through all facets of our work to deliver safe, reliable and affordable gas and electric service to our customers, we are supporting economic development, job creation and diversity in the many communities we serve.”
This bond transaction was one of the largest for PG&E in recent years and the fourth that the utility has completed with a minority-owned investment bank as a lead manager. The bonds mature on June 15, 2043, and June 15, 2023, and bear an interest rate of 4.6 percent and 3.25 percent respectively. The bonds are rated “A3” by Moody’s Investors Service and “BBB” by Standard & Poor’s. Proceeds from the bonds will be used primarily to finance the tender offer for PG&E’s outstanding senior notes and for general company purposes, including repaying a portion of the utility’s outstanding commercial paper.
“PG&E’s display of trust and confidence in CastleOak’s full service platform is a testament to our banking, capital markets, and institutional sales groups, and our ability to add value alongside PG&E’s larger underwriters. Over the years, PG&E has been an enduring partner, providing support early in our firm’s development and helping to foster our continued growth,” said David Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of CastleOak Securities. “We are proud to have earned the opportunity to lead-manage a significant transaction for one of the nation’s leading investor-owned utilities.”
PG&E has been committed to diversity and inclusion for more than three decades. Its supplier diversity program has provided thousands of diverse businesses with opportunities to deliver products to PG&E. In 2012, PG&E spent more than US$2 billion with diverse suppliers, a record high for the company, accounting for 38.8 percent of its total procurement budget. The total was twice what the utility spent on diverse suppliers in 2010.
Among the many accolades the utility has received recently for its commitment to diverse business development, PG&E was named Corporation of the Year by the Northern California Minority Supplier Development Council, and one of the 10 best U.S. corporations nationwide for veteran-owned businesses by the National Veteran-Owned Business Association.
About CastleOak Securities: CastleOak Securities L.P., is an African American-owned investment bank bank focused on the capital markets serving a broad array of corporate, governmental and institutional investor clients. Headquartered in New York City, and with eight regional offices, CastleOak specializes in primary and secondary sales and trading of fixed income, equity, municipal and money market securities.
Since its founding in 2006, CastleOak has grown to over 70 professionals and has assisted its clients on public offerings totaling over US$1 trillion. CastleOak was ranked amongst the top 35 most active underwriters of investment grade corporate debt and equity securities in the U.S. for 2011 by Thomson Financial. CastleOak is in a strategic partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., a leading global financial services provider to the institutional equity and fixed income capital markets.
About the The Williams Capital Group: The Williams Capital Group is an African-American owned full service investment bank catering to both institutional investors and corporate clients. The bank’s products and services include equities, fixed income, corporate finance and investment management. The Williams Capital Group prides itself as the leader among minority-owned firms.
About Kota Global Securities: Kota Global Securities is an African America-owned Enterprise Broker-Dealer with global capabilities that maintains offices in New York, San Francisco, Newport Beach and Chicago. The firm is able to provide its clients with global execution encompassing the U.S. and over 40 countries around the globe. Kota Global Securities was founded by its current CEO Matthew Greene.
Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)