SK Energy to sell up to $500 mln dollar bonds-source

HONG KONG, June 12 (Reuters) - SK Energy (096770.KS) set final guidance on an up to $500 million sale of five-year dollar bonds at 275 basis points over midswaps, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said on Thursday.

The final spread was set at the same initial guidance provided on Wednesday, with launch and pricing expected in London time later on Thursday, said the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk publicly about the deal.

SK Energy had received over $800 million in orders for the deal, the source had told Reuters earlier in the day. The final size of the sale has not been determined, but it will have a maximum size of $500 million, said the source.

Citigroup (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Merrill Lynch MER.N, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) are arranging the sale.

The proposed debt from SK Energy has been rated BBB by Standard & Poor's and Baa2 by Moody's, both the second-lowest investment grade level. (Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)