BPI raises $400 M via upsized loan

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has raised $400 million via a three-year syndicated term loan facility to finance strong growth in loans and investments.

BPI has decided to upsize the amount of the facility to $400 million instead of the original planned $250 million after it generated strong interest and was heavily subscribed.

The facility is the first of its kind for BPI in the dollar syndicated loan market. It attracted a diverse group of Asian, European and American lenders.

Original mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners were Australia New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd., and Standard Chartered Bank.

Mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners were Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., United Overseas Bank Ltd., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd. and Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd.

BPI reported a 35.6 percent in earnings to P12.67 billion in the first half, while revenues rose 20.9 percent to P35.2 billion against a backdrop of choppy markets and elections.

BPI president and CEO Cezar Consing earlier said the listed bank experienced robust client volumes in the first semester.

“Unusually strong markets results complemented steady growth in client revenues. The quality of our client business is high, and we are scaling up to do more and more,” Consing said.

The country’s fourth largest bank in terms of assets said its net interest income went up 9.6 percent to P20.7 billion, while non-interest income jumped 41.7 percent to P14.5 billion.

The bank’s loan portfolio expanded 18.6 percent to P904.38 billion as of end-June due to the 20.4 percent rise in corporate loans while deposits rose 10.8 percent to P1.33 trillion.

Total assets of BPI went up 11.2 percent to P1.58 trillion in end-June, while its capital went up 7.4 percent to P160.79 billion.