BDO announces P5-billion bond offering 

Top lender BDO Unibank, Inc. of the Sy family, is beefing up its green lending capacity with the planned issuance of Peso-denominated Fixed-Rate Sustainability Bonds worth a minimum of P5 billion, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

“This marks the Bank’s fourth Peso-denominated Sustainability Bond following a %u20B155.7 billion issue in July 2024, %u20B163.3 billion issue in January 2024, and %u20B152.7 billion issue in January 2022,” BDO said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has confirmed that the proposed issuance complies with the requirements set forth under the ASEAN Sustainability Bond Standards and the SEC ASEAN Sustainability Bond Circular.

The proposed issuance will have a tenor of 1.5 years and a coupon rate of 5.875 percent per annum. The minimum investment amount is %u20B1500,000, with additional increments in multiples of %u20B1100,000 thereafter.

The offer period will run from July 9 to 22, 2025, while the issue, settlement, and listing date will be on July 29, 2025.

The net proceeds of the proposed issuance will be used to finance 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 it reserves the right to amend the terms and the timing of the issuance as it deems necessary.

ING Bank N.V., Manila Branch is the Sole Arranger and Sustainability Coordinator of the proposed issuance, with BDO Unibank, Inc. and ING as the Selling Agents, and BDO Capital & Investment Corporation as Financial Advisor.

BDO’s ASEAN Sustainability Bond issue in July last year was more than 11 times oversubscribed versus the original offer size of %u20B15 billion due to strong demand from both retail and institutional investors, which also prompted the early closing of the offer period.

For its January 2024 issuance, BDO also upsized its ASEAN Sustainability Bond issue by more than 12 times to raise %u20B163.3 billion, also on the back of strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

Meanwhile, the %u20B152.7 billion BDO raised in 2022 was more than 10 times the original offer of %u20B15 billion due to very strong demand from retail and institutional investors.