RCBC taps bond market anew with P3 billion issuance

MANILA, Philippines — Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial banking Corp. (RCBC) is returning to the onshore debt market as it plans to raise at least P3 billion via the issuance of three-year fixed rate bonds.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the country’s 10th largest lender in terms of assets, said the offer period would run from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6 and the scheduled listing date on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) is on Nov. 13.

The debt paper due 2022 has a fixed interest rate of 4.426 per annum and is part of the bank’s P100 billion bond and commercial paper program.

Standard Chartered Bank has been tapped as the sole arrange and bookrunner for RCBC’s latest fund raising activity.

The board of directors of the bank agreed to raise the bank’s bond and commercial paper program to P100 billion from P30 billion last July as part of efforts to raise funds to further strengthen its regulatory liquidity ratios.

Of the P30 billion approved earlier by RCBC, it has already raised P23 billion for the first half.

It raised P15 billion via the issuance of the first peso-denominated Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) green bonds last February and another P8 billion from the maiden ASEAN sustainability bonds issued last June.

RCBC, a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC), booked a 23 percent increase in net income to P2.7 billion in the first half from P2.2 billion in the same period last year.

RCBC’s total assets expanded by 15 percent to P673.8 billion, while capital funds at P83.4 billion and well above the minimum regulatory requirement with a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 16.13 percent and common equity tier (CET) 1 ratio of 13.29 percent. ­