RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp., the 10th largest lender in terms of assets, said Friday it raised $300 million through the issuance of five-year senior unsecured sustainability notes under a $2-billion medium-term note program.
RCBC told the stock exchange the return to the US dollar bond market on Sept. 4 was met by “strong interest” from both Asian and European investors.
“The notes, rated Baa2 by Moody’s, will be issued at 99.751 with a coupon of 3.000 percent per annum and a maturity date of Sept. 11, 2024. The notes will be issued under the Sustainable Finance Framework of RCBC,” it said.
The notes, in denominations of $200,000 and increments of $1,000 thereafter, will settle on Sept. 11, 2019. The notes will be listed with the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd., similar to the bank’s other three outstanding US dollar-denominated bonds.
Capitalizing on the conducive market backdrop, the bank announced a US dollar sustainability bond transaction on Sept. 4, 2019.
“The transaction saw strong interest from a wide range of high-quality Asian and European investors, which allowed the bank to tighten final price guidance to 170-175 bps over the five-year US Treasury yield,” it said.
The order book was well diversified, with 74 percent allocated to asset managers and fund managers, 18 percent to bank treasury and insurance and 8 percent to corporates, private bank and other investors. Julito G. Rada
“The net proceeds from the issue will be applied by RCBC to support and finance or refinance the RCBC’s loans to customers or its own operating activities in eligible green and social categories as defined in the RCBC sustainable finance framework,” it said.
RCBC remains one of the largest commercial banks in the country that offers a wide range of banking and financial products and services.
Consolidated net income in the first half of 2019 jumped 23 percent to P2.7 billion from P2.2 billion a year ago on sustained strength of core businesses.