The five-year, government-guaranteed loan will be used to prepay a loan that was used for the initial purchase the company's 10% stake in the $4.5-bil Malampaya natural gas project.

Citigroup and Standard Chartered have been chosen as the lead underwriters for the new loan and have selected three local and nine international banks to be part of the syndicate. The three Filipino banks are Allied Banking, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Security Bank.

The $175 million loan carries an annual interest rate of 3.5% above the dollar-denominated London interbank offered rate.