RCBC to sell 5-year dollar debt notes to raise $250M

MANILA, Philippines–Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. is preparing to raise at least $250 million from the sale of five-year US dollar debt notes early next year to refinance maturing debt.

The issuance is part of the bank’s medium-term note program (MTNP) and a planned bond exchange exercise.

In a disclosure, RCBC said that it was updating its MTNP which was established in 2011 while retaining the “flexibility to immediately tap the capital markets and take advantage of favorable market conditions while conforming to its medium and long-term foreign/foreign currency borrowing plans.”

MTNP is a type of debt program used by a company to have constant cash flows coming in from its debt issuance. Such a program allows a company to tailor its debt issuance to meet financing needs and makes its capital market forays easier by registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission only once, instead of every time, for different maturities.

John Thomas Deveras, RCBC executive vice president and head of strategic initiatives, said the bank would initially raise $250 million to “refinance upcoming maturities.”

Last November, RCBC obtained the go-ahead from its board to issue as much as $500 million of senior notes out of its MTNP alongside the bond exchange of existing $250 million senior notes due 2015 and $275 million senior notes due 2017.