Investors flock to BDO’s historic P60-B stock rights offering

The country’s leading lender Banco de Oro Unibank has completed the sale of P60 billion worth of shares to existing shareholders, which made history for being the largest equity capital markets transaction in corporate Philippines.

The stock rights offering saw strong participation from the bank’s domestic and international investors and was oversubscribed, BDO said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

On the listing date on Jan. 31, 716.4 million rights shares will be issued at a price of P83.75 each. Each eligible stockholder was entitled to subscribe to one common share for every 5.095 common shares.

At the offer price of P83.75, shareholders who subscribed to the offering bought new shares at a 23.4-percent discount to market price based on the 15- day volume-weighted average price of BDO common shares.

“The offer strengthens BDO’s common equity tier 1 capital, and supports the bank’s medium-term growth objectives amid the country’s favorable macroeconomic prospects,” the bank said.

“This provides a comfortable buffer over higher capital requirements with the imposition of the domestic systemically important bank (DSIB) surcharge.”

Credit Suisse, UBS and BDO Capital served as joint global coordinators for the offering, working together with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC as joint bookrunners. BDO Capital served as issue manager and domestic underwriter.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA