BPI raises $400 million from its first dollar bond issuance since 2019
BANK of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has raised $400 million from its offering of five-year dollar bonds, it said on Wednesday.
The issuance marked the bank’s first time to tap the international capital markets since 2019, BPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
The Regulation S dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes fetched a coupon of 5.25%, “representing the tightest ever spread on a 5-year bond from a non-sovereign Philippine issuer,” the bank said.
The transaction is expected to be settled on March 26. The notes will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.
The bank earlier said that proceeds from the bond issue will be used to refinance existing debt maturing in September and for general corporate purposes.
The bonds were issued out of BPI’s $3-billion medium-term note program.
“BPI announced the transaction mandate on Monday, March 18, 2024 and conducted a comprehensive investor marketing exercise involving a global investor call and a series of meetings covering investors across Hong Kong, Singapore, and London. After receiving positive investor feedback, BPI proceeded to launch the transaction bookbuilding on Tuesday, March 19, 2024…,” the bank said.
“Orderbooks saw strong momentum throughout the day, despite a week rife with global central bank policy meetings, with the final books standing at over $1.3 billion, as the notes were 3.3 times oversubscribed. This allowed 35 bps (basis points) of pricing compression from IPG (initial pricing guidance) to final pricing, even as the issue size was increased from the original indications of $300 million, to accommodate the strong oversubscription levels,” BPI added.
In terms of geographic allocation, 81% of the bonds were allocated to accounts in Asia, while the remaining 19% went to Europe, the Middle East and Africa Region and offshore US accounts.
It added that 51% was distributed to fund managers, 29% to banks, 17% to private banks and financial institutions, and 3% to insurance firms.
The bank mandated BPI Capital Corp. as the sole global coordinator and lead arranger for the issue, with J.P. Morgan Securities plc, Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank, and UBS AG Singapore Branch being tapped as joint lead arrangers.
BPI’s attributable net income rose by 61.13% year on year to P54.82 billion in 2023 on the back of higher revenues and lower loan loss provisions.
The Ayala-led bank’s shares declined by 90 centavos or 0.73% to close at P121.80 apiece on Wednesday. — AMCS
