FMIC bags awards for debt deals

MANILA, Philippines - First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) has won the Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) 2013 Best Primary Bank for Corporate Bonds Investors’ Vote Philippines and also topped the 2013 Bloomberg Debt League Table. FMIC is the investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group. ABR’s 13th annual survey of institutional investors ranks FMIC as the top bank arranger in the Philippines based on the quality and number of primary corporate bond deals. Of the total P233.5 billion bonds in the capital markets, FMIC accounted for P219.5 billion or 94 percent of the market as of end-November 2013. The investment banker likewise takes the lead among 13 underwriters in the Bloomberg Debt League Table for 2013, posting P28.5 billion or 21 percent market share of the P135.9 billion peso-denominated debts. Some of the bond deals of FMIC for 2013 include: the P18.5-billion, seven- and 12-year fixed rate bonds of the Manila Electric Co.; the P8-billion, seven- and 10-year fixed rate bonds of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.; the P5-billion, 7.25-year fixed rate bonds of Rockwell Land Inc.; the P7-billion, seven- and 10-year fixed rate bonds of Filinvest Land Inc.; the P15-billion, 10.5-year fixed rate bonds and P6-billion, seven- and 20-year fixed rate bonds of Ayala Land Inc.; and the P10-billion, seven- and 10-year fixed rate bonds of GT Capital Holdings Inc.