BDO raises P52.7B in new funds

LISTED BDO Unibank Inc. announced it was able to raise P52.7 billion in new funds by issuing fixed-rate Asean Sustainability Bonds.

With significant demand from individual and institutional investors, the Sy-led lender said in a statement that the proceeds of the bond, which was issued under its P365-billion bond program, is more than 10 times the original offer of P5 billion.

It added that the proceeds were achieved despite the offer period being shortened from January 21 this year to Jan. 19, 2022.

“This is a new milestone for the bank as it exceeds its previous record of P40.1 billion for a single bond issuance and by far the largest issuance for any Philippine financial institution or company,” BDO pointed out.

In addition, the bank said this will be its first time issuing pe

so-denominated sustainability bonds. The date of the issue settlement and listing has been set on January 28 this year.

The bonds have a fixed rate of 2.90 percent per year and a tenor of two years. Interest is calculated on a 30/360 basis and paid quarterly.

“The net proceeds of the issue are intended to diversify the bank’s funding sources and finance/ refinance eligible assets under the Bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework,” BDO stressed.

Standard Chartered Bank was the sole arranger while BDO, BDO Private Bank Inc. and Standard Chartered Bank were the selling agents of the issue. The issue’s financial adviser was BDO Capital and Investment Corp.