BDO UNIBANK, Inc. is offering two-and-a-half-year bonds. — BW FILE PHOTO

BDO Unibank, Inc. is looking to raise P5 billion via the fixed-rate bonds it began offering on Monday to diversify its funding sources and support its lending activities.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the Sy-led lender said the papers will have a tenor of two-and-a-half years and will make up the second tranche of its P100-billion bond program launched in August 2018.

The papers will have an interest rate of 4.408%, payments of which will be done quarterly on a 30/360 count basis.

The offer period started yesterday, Jan. 20, and is set to close on Friday. However, the bank said it can adjust the five-day offer period if deemed necessary.

The minimum investment is P100,000 with increments of P50,000 thereafter.

BDO did not respond when asked if the lender can upsize the initial volume offered.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC) will be the sole lead arranger and bookrunner for the transaction. HSBC will also be joined by BDO and BDO Private Bank, Inc. as the selling agents for the bonds.

In February last year, BDO raised P35 billion in fixed-rate bonds which was the first issue out of its P100-billion program. The papers have an interest rate of 6.42% to be paid quarterly until August this year.

The P100-billion bond program was launched in 2018 to raise fresh funds after securing necessary approvals from its board of directors and regulators.

BDO’s net earnings jumped by 43.35% to P11.967 billion in the July-September period from P8.348 billion the previous year on the back of higher recurring core revenues.

This brought its nine-month income to P32.1 billion, up 49.3% from the P21.5 billion reported in the same period in 2018.

The bank’s shares closed at P154 apiece on Monday, down by P3.50 or 2.22% compared to the previous day’s close of P157.50. — B.M. Laforga

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