China Bank raises P10.25 billion from LTNCD sale

MANILA, Philippines — China Banking Corp. on Thursday said it successfully raised P10.25 billion through a public offering of Long Term Negotiable Certificates of Time Deposits (LTNCD), which will be used to support the bank’s business expansion programs.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the Sy-lender said the peso-denominated offer, which has an interest rate of 4.55 percent per year, was upsized from the initial size of P5 billion amid high demand for the issuance, which was two times oversubscribed.

It was the first tranche of the bank’s planned P20 billion LTNCD sale and the largest in the banking industry so far in 2018. The notes will mature in 2024.

LTNCDs are debt notes offered by banks to investors to raise capital. These have higher interest rates like regular time deposits and can be sold at the secondary market, even before maturity date.

“This LTNCD issuance will make long-term funding available for our lending activities and development plans,” China Bank COO Romeo Uyan Jr. said.

“We thank our depositors and clients for their strong support, which is a clear recognition of China Bank’s bright prospects ahead,” Uyan added.

For this offering, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited was the sole arranger and acted as selling agent, together with China Bank and China Bank Capital Corporation.