BDO issues $600M senior notes amid strong int’l demand

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender in terms of assets controlled by the Sy family, announced on Tuesday the issuance of $600 million worth of fixed-rate senior notes under its medium-term note program.

BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday the transaction was oversubscribed, with orders reaching $2.9 billion, equivalent to almost five times the offered amount. The issue has a coupon rate of 2.125 percent per annum and a tenor of five and a half years.

The bonds were rated investment grade or “Baa2” by Moody’s Investors Service. “The senior note issue is part of the bank’s liability management initiatives to tap longer-term funding sources to support dollar-denominated projects,” the bank said.

Standard Chartered Bank acted as the sole global coordinator, while Standard Chartered Bank and Merrill Lynch (Singapore) Pte. Ltd acted as joint bookrunners and joint lead managers for the transaction.

BDO is a full-service universal bank which provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services. These services include traditional loan and deposit products, treasury, trust and investments, investment banking, private banking, rural banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards, credit card services and stock brokerage services.

BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 1,400 operating branches and over 4,400 ATMs nationwide. It also has full-service branches in Hong Kong and Singapore and 15 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

BDO ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management as of March 31, 2020. Julito G. Rada

BDO earlier raised P36 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate peso bonds that was met by robust demand from individual and institutional investors. The amount was more than seven times the original offer of P5 billion.

The bonds have a tenor of 1.75 years and a coupon rate of 3.125 percent per annum. Interest will be paid quarterly, calculated on a 30/360 count basis, the bank said. The offer period started on June 15 and ended on June 26.

BDO president and chief executive Nestor Tan assured the bank’s continued strength amid the challenging environment.

The bank set aside P20 billion in additional provisions after a comprehensive review of the loan portfolio. Tan said the move was anticipatory in nature, adding this was a prudent measure amid the challenging environment.

The bank’s net income hit a record P44.2 billion in 2019 while its first-quarter profit reached P8.8 billion on the back of strong core income sources.