MANILA, Philippines — Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc. raised a record P115 billion from its latest peso-denominated ASEAN Sustainability Bond offering, marking a record-breaking fundraising that was 23 times oversubscribed from the initial offer size of just P5 billion.
Originally scheduled to run from July 9 to 22, the offer period was cut short and closed on July 14, only four days after launch, due to overwhelming demand from both retail and institutional investors.
This is BDO’s fourth issuance under its ASEAN Sustainability Bond program and comes with a 1.5-year tenor and a coupon rate of 5.875 percent per annum. The bonds were issued, settled and listed on July 29.
“The net proceeds of the issuance are intended to finance and/or refinance eligible assets as defined in the bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework, support the bank’s lending activities and diversify the bank’s funding sources,” BDO said.
ING Bank N.V. Manila branch acted as the sole arranger and sustainability coordinator for the transaction. BDO and ING also served as selling agents, while BDO Capital & Investment Corp. was tapped as financial advisor.
BDO has been actively tapping the sustainable finance market, leveraging investor appetite for ESG-aligned (environmental, social and governance) instruments amid growing interest in responsible investing.
Its previous peso-denominated sustainability bond issuances include P55.7 billion in July 2024, P63.3 billion in January 2024 and P52.7 billion in January 2022. These successful offerings make BDO one of the largest issuers of sustainable debt instruments in the Philippine banking sector.
The country’s largest lender saw its income grow by three percent to P40.6 billion in the first half from P39.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
BDO has the country’s biggest distribution network, with over 1,800 consolidated operating branches and more than 5,800 teller machines nationwide. It also has 15 international offices (including full-service branches in Hong Kong and Singapore) in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
Be the first to comment