BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by tycoon Henry Sy, plans to issue US dollar-denominated fixed-rate senior notes under its medium-term note program for general funding and re-lending purposes.
The bank, however, did not say how much would be raised and when the notes would be issued. “The amount has not been pegged, as of yet, as has been the traditional mode in the past,” a source from the bank said in an e-mailed statement.
“These will represent direct, unsecured obligations of BDO. The senior notes are expected to be sold through a bookbuilding process to both international and local institutional investors under the Reg S format,” BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday.
Standard Chartered Bank and UBS will act as joint lead managers for the issuance.
Global debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service assigned a provisional investment grade rating of Baa2 to the $2-billion medium-term note program that was established by BDO in 2012. The rating also applied to BDO branch in Hong Kong.
