Metrobank raises $1 B from debt notes

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), the Ty family’s banking arm, has successfully raised $1 billion from its offering of a dual tranche, five-year and 10-year US dollar denominated notes.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the bank boasted that “this issuance established several records: the longest senior dated note by a private sector bank in the Philippines, the largest non-sovereign note issuance of $1 billion, and the tightest ever credit spreads on the 5-year tranche among non-sovereign Philippine issuers.”

The five-year and 10-year bonds were priced at 110 basis points (bps) and 130 bps above the benchmark US Treasury notes, carrying fixed coupon rates of 5.375 percent and 5.50 percent, respectively.

The final order book was more than 11 times oversubscribed, reaching $5.6 billion from investors globally. Metrobank is the first private bank to issue a long-dated 10-year bond.

Moody’s gave the 5- and 10-year bonds an investment grade rating of Baa2, at par with the Republic of the Philippines sovereign dollar debt.

By geographical allocation, 86 percent of the investors came from Asia Pacific (APAC) and 14 percent from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

By investor type, meanwhile, 73 percent was allocated to fund managers, 14 percent to banks or financial institutions, and the remaining 13 percent to insurers, corporations and private banks.

“We are positively overwhelmed with the high interest we received from global investors for this issuance,” said Metrobank President Fabian Dee.

He noted that “it shows their strong confidence on Metrobank’s credit and track record in the Philippines. This offering will fund the Bank’s key growth initiatives as we continuously develop innovative financial solutions to serve our clients.”

Proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to diversify the bank’s funding sources and establish a benchmark for Philippine bank credit in the international capital markets.

This issuance is part of Metrobank’s $2 billion Medium Term Note Program approved by its Board of Directors on March 22, 2017.

The bank last tapped the international bond market in July 2020 when it raised $500 million from the issuance of 5.5-year bonds, which carried a fixed coupon of 2.125 percent, payable semi-annually.