The maiden peso bond offering of Bank of Commerce led by bankero Michelangelo Aguilar successfully raised P7.5 billion.
The amount was more than double the original issue size of P3 billion as institutional and retail investors gobbled up the Series A bonds, prompting the listed bank to cut end the offer period a day after it started.
The peso bonds with a tenor of two years and a fixed rate of 5.0263 percent per annum issued by the banking arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) Friday morning.
The proceeds of the fund raising activity, part of the bank’s P20-billion bond program, would be used to manage the bank’s net interest margin by matching long-term assets with long-term funding to reduce interest rate risk, to diversify funding sources, and for general corporate purposes.
ING Bank Manila Branch and Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. (PCCI) acted as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, while Bank of Commerce served as a selling agent.
Last March Bank of Commerce raised P3.36 billion via an initial public offering (IPO) to finance its lending activities and f capital expenditure requirements.
The profit of Bank of Commerce more than doubled to P360.6 million in the first quarter of the year from P146.3 million recorded in the same quarter last year on the back of strong core business activities despite the continuing local and international market volatilities.
