BDO Unibank Inc. upsizes LTNCD offer to P7.3 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Sy family-led BDO Unibank Inc. has upsized its fund raising activity to P7.3 billion, 1.5 times the original volume of P5 billion, due to strong demand.

The bank shortened the offering period for the long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD) to April 4 amid solid demand from retail and institutional investors.

“The bank would like to thank its clients and the investing public for their continued confidence and support for this transaction,” BDO said in a statement.

The latest tranche of LTNCDs has a term of five and a half years and is set to mature on Oct. 12, 2024 with interest rate set at 5.375 percent per annum.

Features of the LTNCD include tax exemption on interest income for individual investors if held for at least five years, quarterly interest payments, deposit insurance coverage with the PDIC up to a maximum of P500,000 per depositor, and negotiability subject to market conditions.

Deutsche Bank AG, Manila Branch was the sole lead arranger and selling agent for the issue, while BDO and BDO Private Bank are the other selling agents. BDO Capital and Investment Corp. served as BDO’s financial advisor.

“The LTNCD issuance is part of the bank’s efforts to lengthen the maturity of its funding sources and support business expansion plans,” BDO said.

Last February, BDO raised P35 billion as investors gobbled up its bond offering aimed at supporting the bank’s expansion and at the same time diversifying its funding sources.

The amount accounted for more than a third of its P100 billion bond program launched last August. The transaction represents the largest ever single peso bond issuance by a Philippine bank, following the bank’s $150 million Green Bond in 2018.

BDO also raised P8.2 billion from the issuance of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits (LTNCTDs) in May last year.

In 2017, the bank also raised P60 billion via stock rights offering and $700 million via the issuance of senior notes in the offshore debt market.

BDO has the country’s largest distribution network, with more than 1,300 consolidated operating branches and over 4,000 ATMs nationwide. It has full-service branches in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as 22 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

BDO ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management based on published statements of condition as of end-2018.

It booked a record net income of P32.7 billion last year, up 17 percent from P28.1 billion in 2017.