Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has priced its $150 million of subordinated perpetual notes at a distribution rate of 4.5 per cent to yield 261.2 basis points (bps) over the five-year swap offer rate.

The securities were sold at par. There was a private-bank concession of 25 cents for every $100 of securities, or 25 basis points.

The perpetuals may be called by the issuer after five years.

If they are not redeemed at that time, the distribution rate will step up by 100 bps and be reset every five years thereafter.

The total order book stood in excess of $800 million.

SPH, which publishes The Straits Times, will use the net proceeds for general working capital, capital expenditure and corporate requirements - including acquisitions and investments - and/or refinancing the existing borrowings of the issuer and its subsidiaries.

Fund managers and hedge funds took 78 per cent of orders, private banks took 18 per cent and others took 4 per cent.

By region, 98 per cent of orders were from Singapore and 2 per cent from overseas.

Payment will be made semi-annually in arrear on June 7 and on Dec 7.

DBS Bank and OCBC Bank were the joint lead managers and bookrunners for the deal.

The offering is part of SPH's $1 billion multi-currency debt issuance programme announced early last month, updated from a $1 billion multi-currency medium-term note programme originally announced in 2010.