BPI raises $600M from maiden overseas bond issue

Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has raised $600 million from an offshore global bond debut, marking the biggest ever maiden overseas bond float by a local bank.

BPI’s five-year senior unsecured fixed rate bonds were priced to yield 4.25 percent a year. This is the first drawdown from BPI’s existing $2-billion medium-term notes program.

“The success of our first ever issuance of the notes is a reflection of investors’ confidence in the credit strength of BPI. It allows us to diversify our sources of liquidity, lengthen the maturity profile of our borrowings and manage the growth of our balance sheet more efficiently. We are grateful for the support we have received from a broad range of high-quality investors,” BPI president and chief executive Cezar Consing said in a statement.

The offering was about three times oversubscribed, with the order book allocated predominantly to Asia and the rest to Europe.

By investor type, more than half of the offer was taken up by asset and fund managers while around a third was allocated to banks and the rest to insurance, pension funds, private banks and other investors.

The transaction is expected to be settled on Sept. 4.

BPI’s notes will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and are expected to have an issue rating of Baa2 by credit watcher Moody’s, making them subject to moderate credit risk.

BPI Capital Corp. acted as the sole global coordinator and, jointly with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan, as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the drawdown.