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Friday, March 29, 2024

Metrobank sells P19b from bond offering amid a strong demand

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Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-largest lender in terms of assets, said Wednesday it raised P19 billion from the sale of peso-denominated bonds on robust demand from investors.

Metrobank said in a statement to the stock exchange it cut short the public offer period from the original date of May 6 to 24, 2021 because of strong investor demand from both institutional and retail clients.

“The offering was closed on May 18, 2021 and was 1.9-times oversubscribed,” it said, adding it was the latest and last tranche of its P100-billion bond and commercial paper program approved by the board in 2018.

The bonds have a tenor of 5.25 years and a coupon of 3.60 percent with quarterly interest payments. The bonds will be listed in the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on June 4, 2021. Since November 2018, Metrobank has raised P100 billion from peso bond offerings.

First Metro Investment Corp. and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. are the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners of the offering.

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Metrobank is one of the largest and most stable banks in the country, with a strong balance sheet and asset base of P2.4 trillion and is well-capitalized with total equity of P306.6 billion as of end-March.

The bank’s capital ratios were comfortably above regulatory requirements, with total capital adequacy ratio at 19.9 percent and common equity Tier 1 ratio at 19.0 percent. The bank has investment-grade ratings of “Baa2” from Moody’s Investor Service and “BBB-” from Fitch Ratings.

Metrobank posted a net income of P7.8 billion in the first quarter, up 27.1 percent year on year, driven by stable asset quality, strong non-interest income performance and marginal rise in operating expenses.

Non-interest income surged 28 percent to P7.9 billion. Fee-based revenue was stable at P3.3 billion despite business activities still being slower than pre-pandemic levels.

Trust fee income grew 20 percent, in line with the 30-percent rise in assets under management. Trading and foreign exchange gains doubled to P2.9 billion as the Treasury group realized gains prior to the reversal of yields.

Non-performing loan ratio stayed at 2.4 percent from end-2020. Restructured loans comprised 0.4 percent of total loans.

The bank set aside provisions of P2.5 billion in the first quarter, or 50 percent lower year-on-year. NPL cover improved to 166 percent from 163 percent in December 2020.

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