BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by the Sy Group, said Tuesday it plans to raise at least P5 billion from the issuance of peso-denominated fixed-rate sustainability bonds.
BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would use the net proceeds from the issue to diversify the bank’s funding sources and finance and/or refinance eligible assets as defined in its sustainable finance framework.
This will be the bank’s second peso-denominated sustainability bond offering following the successful P52.7 billion landmark issuance in January 2022.
The latest bond issuance has a tenor of 1.5 years and bears a coupon rate of 6.025 percent per annum. The minimum investment amount is P500,000, with additional increments of P100,000 thereafter.
BDO said the offering will run from Jan. 9 to 22, 2024, while the listing date is on Jan. 29, 2024.
“The bank reserves the right to update the terms and the timing of the issuance,” BDO said.
BDO appointed Standard Chartered Bank as the sole arranger and lead underwriter for the issuance. Standard Chartered Bank will also act as a selling agent alongside BDO. BDO Capital & Investment Corp. will serve as the financial advisor.
The bank’s sustainable finance initiatives began with the establishment of the social and environmental management systems policy in 2010 with the assistance of the International Finance Corp. The SEMS guidelines cover social and environmental impact assessment and risk categorization of borrowers.
It also set up a sustainable finance desk that initially focused on financing renewable energy projects and expanded the scope to include all forms of sustainable practices including energy efficiency, climate-smart agriculture, green infrastructure and clean transportation.
BDO is the country’s largest bank in terms of consolidated resources, customer loans, deposits, assets under management and capital as well as branch and ATM network nationwide.