By James A. Loyola
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has successfully priced its $300-million Senior Unsecured Fixed Rate ASEAN Green Bond, the first dollar-denominated green bond by a Philippine bank, via a drawdown under its $2-billion Medium-Term Note Program.
In a statement, the bank said the bonds were priced at 99.641 with a re-offer yield of 2.577 percent. The bonds will carry a coupon of 2.50 percent a year, payable semiannually, and will have a final maturity date of September 10, 2024.
BPI said the offering was over four times oversubscribed, with the order book allocated predominantly to Asia, and the rest to Europe.
By investor type, more than half of the offering was allocated to asset managers and fund managers, around one-third to banks, financial institutions and private banks, and the remainder to insurance companies, pension funds and other investors.
The transaction is expected to settle on September 10, 2019.
Upon issuance, the bonds will be the first US dollar-denominated ASEAN green bond issued by a Philippine bank with the lowest coupon and yield ever paid for a US dollar-denominated bond from the Philippines and the lowest credit spread ever paid by a Philippine bank.
The net proceeds from the bonds will be used for the financing and/or re-financing, in whole or in part, of “green” eligible projects, as further described in BPI’s Green Finance Framework.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has confirmed that the bonds comply with the requirements under the ASEAN Green Bonds Circular and as such are qualified to be issued under the ASEAN Green Bond label.