BPI eyes senior note drawdown

BANK OF THE Philippine Islands (BPI) is eyeing to raise funds through a senior unsecured note drawdown.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, the Ayalaled lender said it may conduct a dollar-denominated note offering following offshore investor meetings scheduled today.

“A Regulation S offering of US dollar-denominated senior unsecured debt securities (the “Notes”) may follow,” BPI said in the statement, adding that this will be subject to market conditions.

The lender is set to conduct investor meetings in Hong Kong and Singapore on Aug. 24.

BPI Capital will be the sole global coordinator and joint bookrunner of the meetings, while Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan will serve as the joint bookrunners.

When issued, BPI said the notes will constitute a drawdown under its medium-term note (MTN) program.

In June, the bank has successfully established a dollardenominated MTN facility with an aggregate amount of up to $2 billion listed in Singapore. BPI said it tapped the dollar-denominated facility “to maximize flexibility in accessing funding expediently.”

The note drawdown is expected to be rated “Baa2” by global debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service, a notch above the minimum investment grade.

Philippine National Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. have also tapped the foreign debt market recently, raising $300 million and $150 million, respectively, from its medium-term note facilities.

In April, BPI raised P50 billion through a stock rights offer, selling 558.7 million common shares priced at P89.50 apiece.

Proceeds from the fund-raising activity will be used to finance its digital thrust, expand its retail loan portfolio and put up more branches.

BPI’s net income in the first half of the year declined 5.7% to P11.03 billion from the P11.7 billion tallied year-on-year.

Shares in BPI closed at P95.80 apiece on Thursday, gaining P4.70 or 5.16% from the previous day’s finish of P91.10 each.