BankCom raises record P18B from bond issuance

MANILA, Philippines — Bank of Commerce (BankCom) has raised P18 billion from its bond issuance, its biggest peso fundraising exercise via the debt market to date as investors flock to fixed-income securities.

In a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, BankCom said its issuance was 3.6 times oversubscribed from the P5-billion base offer due to strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

“We appreciate the strong support of investors and are elated that one of our shortest peso bond offerings has also become the largest in BankCom’s history,” BankCom president Michelangelo Aguilar said in a statement.

READ: Bank of Commerce raising P5B from bond foray

The bank will use the proceeds from the issuance for management of its balance sheet, diversification of funding sources and general corporate purposes.

In particular, BankCom raised P10 billion in Series C bonds, which have a tenor of two years and rate of 6.1942 percent and P8 billion in Series D bonds, which have a tenor of five years and rate of 6.3494 percent per year.

These were listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on Wednesday.

The offering represents the third tranche of BankCom’s P50-billion bond program that was upsized from P20 billion originally.
BankCom raised P7.5 billion in the first tranche in July 2022 and P6.57 billion in the second tranche in May 2024.

ING Bank NV Manila Branch, Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. (PCCI), Security Bank Capital Investment Corp., and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) were tapped as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.

BankCom acted as the selling agent, along with ING, PCCI, Security Bank Capital and SCB.

This comes amid projections that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will slash rates for overnight borrowing by up to 50 basis points this year.

Rate cuts typically make fixed-income securities, such as bonds, more attractive to investors as these promise higher yield.

BankCom, the affiliate bank of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., booked a 10-percent growth in its net income to P2.2 billion in the first nine months of 2024, buoyed by its core lending business.

Revenues from investment banking, credit card and trust businesses likewise resulted in growth in its service charges, fees and commissions.