Top lender BDO Unibank Inc. of the Sy family has successfully raised P55.7 billion in fresh funds via its third peso-denominated ASEAN Sustainability Bond issue.
In a statement, the bank said the issue was more than 11 times oversubscribed versus the original offer size of P5 billion.
BDO noted that the issuance was supported by strong demand from both retail and institutional investors that also prompted the early closing of the offer period on July 16, 2024.
The latest ASEAN Sustainability Bonds have a tenor of 1.5 years and bear a coupon rate of 6.325 percent per annum. The issue, settlement, and listing date is on July 24, 2024.
The net proceeds of the issuance are intended to finance and/or refinance eligible assets as defined in the bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework and diversify the bank’s funding sources.
ING Bank N.V., Manila Branch was the Sole Arranger and Sustainability Coordinator, while BDO and ING were the Selling Agents. BDO Capital & Investment Corporation was the Financial Advisor.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had confirmed that the issuance complies with the ASEAN Sustainability Bond Standards and the SEC ASEAN Sustainability Bond Circular.
"This marks the Bank’s third Peso-denominated Sustainability Bond following a P52.7 billion issue in January 2022 and P63.3 billion issue in January 2024," BDO said.
Last January 2024, BDO upsized its second ASEAN Sustainability Bond issue by more than 12 times to raise P63.3 billion on the back of strong demand from retail and institutional investors.
The bank said the original P5 billion offering saw a rapid build-up in orders resulting in the shortening of the offer period by a week to Jan. 16, 2024.
This is the bank’s largest single issuance, surpassing its first ASEAN Sustainability Bonds issue in January 2022 amounting to P52.7 billion.
The peso-denominated sustainability bonds bear a coupon rate of 6.025 percent and are due in 1.5 years. The issue, settlement, and listing date was on Jan. 29, 2024.
The P52.7 billion BDO raised in 2022 was more than 10 times the original offer of P5 billion due to very strong demand from retail and institutional investors.