BDO raises P36B from bond offer

The country’s largest lender, BDO Unibank, has raised P36 billion from another big local bond offering that was warmly received by the cash-awash local financial market.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, BDO reported the bond offering was oversubscribed by seven times the base offer of P5 billion. This was attributed to “robust demand from individual and institutional investors.”

The bonds have a tenor of 1.75 years and a coupon rate of 3.125 percent per annum. Inte­rest on the bonds will be paid quarterly. “The latest bond issuance is part of BDO’s continuing efforts to diversify its funding sources and support its lending activities,” the disclosure read. The offer ran from June 15 to 26 this year.

The bonds were exclusively offered through BDO Trust and Investments Group and BDO Private Bank Trust. British bank Standard Chartered Bank was the sole lead arranger and market maker for the issue, while BDO and BDO Private Bank were the selling agents.

This forms part of BDO’s upgraded P300-billion bond program, over a third of which were already raised since the program was launched early last year.

Only last January, BDO sold P40.1 billion worth of bonds with a tenor of 2.5 years and a yield of 4.408 per annum. In February 2019, BDO raised P35 billion from the issuance of bonds with a tenor of 1.5 years and a coupon rate of 6.42 percent.

The aggressive monetary easing of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas amid the econo­mic challenges arising from the new coronavirus disease pandemic has brought down local interest rates and infused more liquidity into the financial system. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA