Bank of Commerce (BankCom) made its trading debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday as company officials laid out their vision for further expansion.
BankCom, which raised P3.36 billion from an initial public offering (IPO) last month, is the banking affiliate of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), one of the country’s biggest conglomerates with businesses spanning food, drinks, energy and infrastructure.
“BankCom’s strategic vision is to be at par with the country’s leading domestic banks,” SMC president Ramon Ang said in a statement on Thursday.
“We expect the bank to continue to grow in the coming years, achieve economies of scale, improve efficiency, and serve more Filipinos, from retail customers, small-to-medium enterprises, to major corporate clients, as Philippine economic growth gets back on track,” he added. BankCom made its trading debut under the symbol “BNCOM.” It closed higher by 1.83 percent to P12.22 after gaining as much as 4.83 percent earlier in the session.
“The commitment from our shareholders during this IPO reflects the high level of trust that investors and clients have on significant growth opportunities for BankCom in the years to come,“ said BankCom president and CEO Michelangelo Aguilar.
Return of bank IPOs
BankCom was the PSE’s first banking IPO since the Ng family’s Asia United Bank went public in 2013. That same year, Philippine Business Bank also made its PSE debut.
Meanwhile, BankCom’s IPO proceeds would be used to fund its lending activities and finance capital expenditure requirements in connection with the upgrading of its ATM fleet and its core banking system.
BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital, Inc., and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. were hired as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners for the IPO.