Cleary Gottlieb represented Barclays Capital Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Mizuho Securities USA LLC, and MUFG Securities Americas Inc., as representatives of the underwriters, in an offering of $400 million of floating-rate first and refunding mortgage bonds, Series 2021B, due 2023; $400 million of floating-rate first and refunding mortgage bonds, Series 2021C, due 2024; $350 million of 0.7% first and refunding mortgage bonds, Series 2021D, due 2023; and $700 million of 1.1% first and refunding mortgage bonds, Series 2021E, due 2024 by Southern California Edison Company (SCE).
The senior debt securities are secured by a lien on substantially all of SCE’s property and franchises. The net proceeds from the offering of the bonds will be used to fund the payment of wildfire claims and to repay commercial paper borrowings that were used to fund the payment of such wildfire claims. The bond transaction priced on March 24, 2021, and will close on April 1, 2021.
The interest payment calculation for the floating-rate bonds will be based on based on compounded SOFR (referencing the SOFR index) for each quarterly interest period. The floating rate bonds are SCE’s first issuance using SOFR.
SCE is an investor-owned public utility primarily engaged in the business of supplying and delivering electricity to an approximately 50,000 square mile area of Southern California, excluding the City of Los Angeles and certain other cities. It owns and operates transmission, distribution, and generation facilities, and procures power from a variety of sources, including other utilities, merchant generators, and other nonutility generators.