No longer plain vanilla: BDO Capital hatches P500B worth of annual deals
Eduardo V. Francisco, President of BDO Capital & Investment Corporation
MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-five years ago, BDO Capital and Investment Corp. began as a company offering plain-vanilla loans, operating only as a small player in the investment banking space.
A quarter of a century later, BDO Capital has emerged as the country’s leading investment bank, and aptly so: parent BDO Unibank just celebrated its record-breaking year in terms of financial performance. This spilled over to BDO Capital.
Facilitating a total transaction volume of P12.5 trillion, averaging P500 billion in deals annually, BDO Capital now underwrites and arranges different forms of financing.
This, BDO Capital says, is their way of leveraging the Sy family’s extensive banking reach and portfolio.
“Our growth is a reflection of the trust our clients place in us,” BDO Capital president Eduardo Francisco says.
These deals are a mix of equity, debt and advisory services amid volatile market conditions that often constrain corporations, causing them to shy away from risk.
Record deals
In 2022, one of the pivotal years of the postpandemic era, the investment bank facilitated its largest transaction volume to date at P1.4 trillion.
BDO Capital notes that market volatility and rising interest rates pushed more issuers to tap the debt capital markets with larger offerings and long-term financing.
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By 2023 and 2024, the company facilitated transactions totaling P837 billion and P832 billion, respectively.
“While equity markets slowed due to elevated interest rates, BDO Capital guided clients through these challenges by creating customized solutions,” the firm says.
Apart from the straightforward corporate deals, BDO Capital also supported infrastructure projects—the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 and Mactan Cebu International Airport, for which the company arranged syndicated loans, facilitated mergers and acquisitions and opened doors for local and international expansion.
According to BDO Capital, utility firms recently gained the confidence to take advantage of the high- interest rate environment, optimize their financial structures and unlock liquidity.
“We will continue to strengthen partnerships and apply financial solutions specific to each customer’s needs to be able to attain and support economic development, as well as promote a sustainable business environment,” Francisco says.
