August 24, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Security Bank Corp. raised a record P20 billion as investors swarmed its bond offering during its return to the domestic bond market.
The issuance, part of the bank’s P200-billion peso bond and commercial papers program, was four times oversubscribed from the original issue size of P5 billion.
“This is the largest issue size of the bank to date. Due to strong demand for the bonds, the bank exercised its oversubscription option and accepted offers above its minimum P5 billion issue size,” Security Bank said.
The bank also ended its bond offer period early as volume significantly exceeded the target. The offer period was originally set to run from July 8 to Aug. 13, but it closed on Aug. 5.
The 5.1-year bonds due 2029, with a fixed rate of 6.05 percent per annum, were listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. to provide secondary market liquidity to investors who want to trade the instruments.
“We’re humbled by the overwhelming response to our bond offering, which reflects the strong trust and confidence of our investors in Security Bank and our BetterBanking promise,” Arnold Bengco, executive vice president and financial markets segment head at Security Bank, said.
“We’re grateful for their support and will strive to keep delivering value to our clients and stakeholders,” he said.
Proceeds of the fundraising activity, the bank said, would help diversify the bank’s funding sources and support its lending activities.
Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. served as sole bookrunner, while SB Capital Investment Corp. and PCCI acted as joint lead arrangers and selling agents.
Security Bank last tapped the domestic bond market in July last year, where it raised P18.5 billion amid strong demand. It was more than 2.3 times oversubscribed from its original issue size of P8 billion.
In 2022, Security Bank raised P30.6 billion as it tapped the domestic bond market twice. It issued P16 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds due 2024 in July and another P14.6 billion in November.
Security Bank’s earnings grew by 10.6 percent to P5.44 billion in the first half from P4.92 billion in the same period last year on the back of continued growth in business drivers
The 73-year-old bank has a total of 328 branches and 662 ATMs, cash recycler machines and cash acceptance machines.
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