BDO hikes Tier 2 offering

Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., the country's largest lender in terms of assets, on Thursday said it has successfully closed the offer of Unsecured Subordinated Notes qualifying as Tier 2 capital. In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the bank said it closed the offer period on June 15, 2011, two days ahead of the original schedule, owing to oversubscription from various retail and institutional investors. Total orders reached close to P10 billion, prompting BDO to raise its issue size from P5 billion to at least P8 billion. The T2 Notes were priced at 6.5 percent per annum and will have a maturity of 10 years and three months from issue date, with a call option exercisable by the bank after five years. The issue date is set for June 27, 2011. "This transaction is the fourth successful issuance of Tier 2 Notes by BDO, meant to fund its expansion plans and enhance the bank's capital adequacy ratio, which stood at 14 percent as of March 31, 2011," the bank said. Deutsche Bank AG, Manila Branch, and The Hongkong and Shanghai Corp. Ltd. acted as joint lead arrangers, joint bookrunners and selling agents for the transaction. Multinational Investment Bancorp. was also designated as selling agent and market maker, while BDO acted as limited selling agent for the transaction. BDO earlier disclosed that regulators approved its acquisition of Export & Industry Bank. Reports earlier placed EIB's liabilities at P52 billion. By acquiring EIB, BDO will take over the bank's 50 branches, 35 of which are in Metro Manila. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News