29 July 2022, Makati, Philippines —Bank of Commerce (BankCom or PSE: BNCOM), the banking arm of the San Miguel Group, lists its maiden Fixed Rate Bonds, issuing PHP 7.5 billion worth of bonds due 2024 on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). This marks the first tranche of a PHP 20 billion bond program.
PDEx President and CEO Antonino A. Nakpil remarked: “[BankCom] is back with what we note is a bond met with investor demand strong enough to close the offer period [after] two days… and 2.5 times larger than the original amount of PHP 3 billion. This listing is again auspicious as it caps off a record month of PHP 96.5 billion worth of new bonds listed. With SMC’s energy and banking subsidiaries accounting for almost half of these month’s issues this [BankCom] listing is once again another good omen for the listing year remaining.”
BankCom President and CEO Michelangelo R. Aguilar expressed his delight to the overwhelming interest from both institutional and retail investors. He said: “The overwhelming response on our first ever Peso bond issuance underscores the market’s confidence in BankCom’s performance, its creditworthiness, and growth potential as a publicly listed company and an affiliate of one of the Philippines’ largest and diversified conglomerates, San Miguel Corporation. Proceeds from this issuance will enable us to match long-term assets with long-term funding to reduce the Bank’s interest rate risk. Furthermore, diversifying our sources of funding will provide stability to propel loan growth in the corporate, SME and retail sectors. This issuance forms part of BankCom’s PHP 20 billion Bonds Programme.”
This 19th admission for 2022 brings the year-to-date total of new listings and enrollments to PHP 352.12 billion, pushing the total level of tradable corporate debt instruments to PHP 1.37 trillion issued by fifty-three companies, comprised of 191 securities.
