Philippine National Bank boosts war chest by P27B

Philippine National Bank President Wick Veloso (right) and economist Jun Trinidad (left)

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank has raised its lending capability with proceeds from a P13.87-billion local bond debut and a $250-million syndicated loan facility.

PNB listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on Wednesday its maiden fixed rate peso bonds after a well-received offering.

The bonds 2021 were priced to yield 6.25 percent per annum.  The offering was oversubscribed by three times the base size of P5 billion. 

PNB president Wick Veloso said the high demand for the initial issue was a testament to investors’ strong confidence in PNB and the country’s economic stability.

“Over the past century, PNB has been very active in offering investment opportunities to customers. Aside from business expansion, the bond issuance is part of our efforts to diversify our funding sources to meet the financial needs of our growing customer base,” he said.

“We look forward to tapping the capital markets in a variety of formats, as we come up with new products to offer to our investors, and embark on a safe aggressive growth,” he also said.

British banking giant Standard Chartered acted as sole arranger and book runner for the issuance.

Acting through its Tokyo branch, PNB separately raised $250 million from a three-year syndicated term loan facility with a large group of international and regional Japanese banks.

The lead arrangers and book runners were ANZ and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group while CTBS Bank (Philippines) Corp. and Mega International Commercial Bank also joined the underwriter group.

In a press briefing, Veloso said proceeds from these fund-raising activities would help fund the bank’s lending activities.