PSB lists P6.3-B bond issue

The Metrobank group’s thrift bank arm, Philippine Savings Bank, has listed P6.3 billion of its inaugural bond issue on the fixed income exchange.

This marks the first tranche of PSBank’s P40-billion funding program as the bank builds long-term funds to oil the expansion of its lending business and diversify its funding base.

The two-year peso fixed rate bond issuance was priced at 5.6 percent a year with quarterly interest payments. The bonds are now listed on Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx).

PSBank president Jose Vicente Alde said: “We express gratitude to all our partners for making our first-ever bond issuance a success. We would also like to thank the investing public for their trust in the PSBank name, which has resulted in this overwhelming market reception. It is a testament to confidence in our business initiatives, which we hope will continue to take the bank to a higher level of growth and share of market.”

The bond issuance was increased from the original base offer of P3 billion given strong market demand.

The issuance brought the year-to-date total of new listings on PDEx to P234.14 billion and the total tradable corporate debt instruments listed on this platform to P1.23 trillion, marking a 17-percent increase from end-2018.

“Because of active market makers, interest has picked up in the secondary market as these instruments may also present as alternative investments within the interbank money market. The market-making activity in this segment, outside of the traditional GS (government securities) environment, is certainly a great feature that PDEx would like to see extended to the rest of the corporate bond market segments,” PDEx president and chief operating officer Antonino Nakpil stated.

Standard Chartered Bank acted as sole arranger and selling agent while PSBank parent Metrobank and First Metro Investment Corp. as selling agents.

PSBank was given an issuer rating of PRS Aaa by credit watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp., the highest on its scale. A company rated PRS Aaa is deemed to have a “very strong capacity to meet financial commitments relative to that of Philippine corporations.”

PSBank posted a 10.3-percent year-on-year net income growth to P680.7 million in the first quarter. Its consumer loan portfolio expanded by 6.8 percent year-on-year to close the quarter at P159.3 billion.