BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO), the most dominant bank in the country, has raised $500 million from a diverse group of international banks forming part of a syndicate of lenders willing to extend it a three-year loan.
BDO Corporate Information Officer Elmer B. Serrano said the bank closed and signed a three-year loan for $500 million, the largest syndicated loan transaction by a Philippine financial institution to date.
“The facility generated strong interest and was oversubscribed, prompting BDO to upsize it to $500 million from the initial tranche of $350 million,” he said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The bank has received lending commitments from various lenders widely distributed across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
“BDO intends to utilize the facility for refinancing of an existing term loan and for general banking and corporate purposes,” he added.
The lead arrangers and book runners for the transaction were Bank of America NA, Deutsche Bank AG Singapore branch, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank and United Overseas Bank Ltd.
Recently, China Banking Corp. secured a $158-million syndicated three-year term loan.
The loan syndication attracted financial institutions based in Asia and the Middle East, some of which are supporting China Bank for the first time.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. were the mandated lead arranger and bookrunner.
KDB Group and Mizuho Bank Ltd. Singapore branch and Doha Bank QSC were the mandated lead arrangers.
Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to support the growth of China Bank’s dollar assets. The facility carries an interest margin of 1.40 percent per annum over three-month Libor.