UnionBank raises $358 million through syndicated loans

MANILA, Philippines — Union Bank of the Philippines raised $358 million through a syndicated loan facility to refinance maturing   dollar loans and existing bonds as well as fund general corporate purposes.

The three-year syndicated loan facility was well-received and attracted 15 lenders, prompting the Aboitiz-led bank to upsize the original launch size of $150 million by almost 2.5 times.

Johnson Sia, treasurer and head of global markets at UnionBank, said the strong reception of its fund raising activity shows how the bank continues to gain the market’s confidence in its strategic priorities.

“After our P11 billion digital bond issuance in June, which was 11 times oversubscribed, we now have successfully executed this $358 million syndicated loan facility, which is almost 2.5 times upsized. This enables us to better manage our financing requirements and continue executing our strategy as the market remains volatile,” Sia said.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and MUFG Bank, Ltd. acted as lead arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners.

Last June, UnionBank raised P11 billion after investors swarmed the first-ever digital peso bond issuance in the country. The fund raising activity, part of the bank’s P39 billion bond program, was oversubscribed as it originally pegged the size at P1 billion.

The first digital bond issuance in the Philippines was a result of UnionBank’s partnership with the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. The bonds with a tenor of 1.5 years and a fixed rate of 3.25 percent per annum are listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

Last August, UnionBank completed the acquisition of the retail banking business of American banking giant Citi in the Philippines for P72 billion, higher than the original estimate of P55 billion.

The total cash consideration was based on the net assets of the Citi Philippines consumer banking business, plus a premium of P45.3 billion. Based on the closing statement as of June 30, 2022, the net asset value of the business was P26.7 billion.