BDO Leasing secures top rating

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Rating Services Corp. assigned a PRS Aa (corp.) issuer credit rating for BDO Leasing and Finance Inc., the leasing and finance arm of the BDO Group.

A company rated PRS Aa (corp.) differs from the highest-rated corporates only to a small degree, and has a strong capacity to meet its financial commitments relative to that of other Philippine corporates.

The rating is the second highest rating category on PhilRatings’s credit scale.

The rating was obtained in relation to BDO Leasing’s application for the issuance of P15 billion worth of commercial papers.

BDO Leasing is recognized as one of the leading players in the commercial leasing industry, directly competing with other financing companies affiliated with top Philippine banks and other financial services firms.

Its leasing activities include the renting and leasing of equipment and real properties while its financing activities involve the borrowing and relending of funds. 

An issuer rating is an opinion on the general and overall creditworthiness of the issuer, evaluating its ability to meet all its financial obligations within a time horizon of one year.

 The focus is on financial strength and stability under normal and stressed conditions to be able to meet existing and prospective financial obligations. 

The rating was arrived at after taking into account BDO Leasing’s strong brand recognition due to the company’s close strategic relationship with its parent bank, its continued asset expansion supported by increasing leverage, expectations of compressed margins and returns amid sustained revenue growth, and the favorable outlook for the leasing and financing industry due to continued domestic economic growth.

The company was also assigned a stable outlook, which means the assigned issuer credit rating is likely to remain unchanged in the next 12 months.

 BDO Leasing has largely benefited from the BDO Group’s extensive market reach and well-established presence throughout the country, in terms of marketing referrals as well as the strong franchise of the group.

A significant percentage of BDO Leasing’s loan portfolio was accounted for by common clients with BDO.