Security Bank rolls out P3-B bond sale

Frederick Dy’s Security Bank Corp. is raising at least P3 billion from a bond sale to tap robust demand for fixed-income investments.

The lender said the peso-denominated offering, which runs from Oct. 17 to 28, would have a tenor of 1.5 years and would pay a fixed-rate of 5.3 percent a year.

Security Bank, which is providing an oversubscription option, said the bonds would be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on Nov. 10 this year.

It hired Philippine Commercial Capital as sole bookrunner. PCCI and SB Capital Investment Corp. would also act as joint lead arrangers and selling agents.

Investors are moving to debt securities given the volatility in riskier asset classes such as stocks.

On Monday, the Ty family’s Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. decided to end its bond sale three days ahead of schedule due to “strong demand.”

Metrobank announced it would raise at least P10 billion in 1.5-year bonds paying a rate of 5 percent a year.

Meanwhile, Security Bank said the proceeds from the offer would be used to support lending activities and to expand its customer base.

The debt offer would be issued from its P100-billion peso bond program.

Security Bank earlier said profits from January to June doubled to P6 billion on better interest earnings and low credit expenses.

It said net income in the first half of 2022 doubled to P6.2 billion on higher interest earnings and lower credit expenses.

Net interest income during the period reached P14.4 billion, up 6 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, non-interest income hit P4.8 billion.

Recovering business conditions due to the further reopening of the economy allowed the lender to set aside P408 million as provisions in the first half, lower by 83 percent.

Moreover, gross the non-performing loan ratio decreased to 3.28 percent from 3.65 in the previous quarter, it said.