China Bank taps debt market for P30 B funds

MANILA, Philippines — China Banking Corp. successfully tapped the onshore debt market raising P30 billion via its maiden fixed rate bonds issue, six times the original issue size of P5 billion.

Strong demand prompted the country’s seventh largest bank in terms of assets to upsize the issuance of the bonds due January 2021 with an annual interest rate of 5.7 percent.

The bond issue is part of China Bank’s planned P75-billion fund raising program for the next three years to support its expansion and strategic initiatives. 

China Bank’s issuance retail bonds and commercial papers is also in line with its intention to be an active participant in the ongoing economic expansion of the country and the government’s infrastructure initiatives.

The bank owned by the family of the late retail and banking magnate Henry Sy is also raising as much as P20 billion via the issuance of long term negotiable certificates of time deposits (LTNCDs) to boost the bank’s assets and bankroll its expansion plans.

Proceeds of the fund raising activity, the bank said, would be used to support its asset generation plans and expansion programs.

The country’s seventh largest bank in terms of assets has raised P26.18 billion from the issuance of LTNCDs over the last three years. It issued P10.25 billion worth of LTNCDs due January 2024 in July last year, P6.35 billion LTNCDs due December 2022 in June 2017, and P9.59 billion worth of LTNCDs due May 2022 in November 2016.