BDO eyes P5 billion in return to domestic bond market

MANILA, Philippines — BDO Unibank Inc. is returning to the domestic debt market anew as it intends to raise at least P5 billion via the issuance of fixed-rate bonds.

The offer period started yesterday and will last until Jan. 24, but the country’s largest bank reserves the right to adjust the timing of the offer as needed.

The bank, owned by the family of the late retail and banking magnate Henry Sy, intends to list the bonds with a tenor of 2.5 years and priced at 4.408 percent to be paid quarterly at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) on Feb. 3.

The minimum investment is P100,000 with increments of P50,000. British banking giant HSBC is the sole lead arranger, bookrunner and selling agent for the fund raising activity, while BDO and BDO Private Bank are also selling agents.

The fund raising activity is part of BDO’s P100 billion bond program launched in August 2018 to diversify the bank’s funding sources and support its lending activities.

Of the total, BDO raised P35 billion via the issuance of fixed-rate bonds in February last year.

Data from PDEx showed debt issuance by Philippine banks jumped 132.5 percent to P268.98 billion in 2019 from P115.7 billion in 2018. The financial sector accounted for 71.8 percent of the total record high P374.53 billion new listings at the PDEx last year.

BDO topped the list after raising P48.82 billion through the issuance of bonds and LTNCDs, followed by Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. with P42.5 billion and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

Another Sy-led bank, China Bank, issued fixed-rate bonds worth P30 billion, while Philippine National Bank (PNB) of tobacco and airline magnate Lucio Tan raised P26.69 billion consisting of P20.17 billion worth of bonds and P12.82 billion worth of LTNCDs.