Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said Monday it is planning to issue US-dollar denominated senior unsecured debt securities.
The bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it mandated its investment banking subsidiary BPI Capital Corp. as the sole global coordinator and lead arranger for the planned fund-raising activity.
BPI Capital along with joint lead arrangers J.P. Morgan Securities Plc, Mizuho Securities Asia Limited, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS AG Singapore Branch were set to arrange a series of fixed income investors meeting starting March 18, the bank said.
It said the planned notes offering may follow after these meetings, subject to market conditions.
The notes, which are expected to be rated Baa2 by global debt watcher Moody’s, will come from BPI’s $2-billion medium term note program.
BPI chief finance officer Eric Roberto Luchangco said in February the bank might sell at least $300-million bonds in the first half of 2024 to refinance debt maturing in December.
BPI saw its 2023 net income soar to an all-time high of P51.7 billion, up 30.5 percent from P39.6 billion in 2022, driven by record revenues and lower provisions which offset the increase in operating expenses.
Minus the impact of the one-off gain from the 2022 property sale, net income would be higher by 44.1 percent.
Revenues rose 16.7 percent to P138.3 billion year-on-year, on the back of a 22.7-percent increase in net interest income to P104.4 billion, as average asset base expanded 7.7 percent and net interest margin widened 50 basis points to 4.09 percent.
BPI said its fourth-quarter net income also jumped 44.3 percent year-on-year to P13.1 billion, led by higher revenue growth and lower provisions recognized.
The bank raised $300 million through a syndicated loan in August 2023 to partially refinance its maturing foreign obligations.