Metrobank share sale gets positive review from UBS

The principal offering of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. in both the international and domestic capital markets is reflective of the growing sophistication and depth of the Philippine capital markets, according to Swiss financial giant UBS AG Investment Bank.

James Fleming, UBS equity capital markets head for South East Asia, said the Metrobank offer was the first primary overnight bookbuilding offer that took a total of only 18 hours, with the majority of 164 million shares offered in the international market gobbled up in the first hour.

Other capital build-up efforts by other Philippine companies, took roughly four weeks, including introduction to the market and bookbuilding.

"It is the first Philippine bank to make a successful sale in the international market, including the Middle East, since 1999," Fleming said.

Metrobank raised $132 million from the international offer and expects to raise over P3 billion in the domestic sale comprising 8.7 million shares. Investors came from Asia (29 percent), Europe (34 percent), and the United States (38 percent).

UBS said the market’s enthusiasm for Metrobank is based on a strong management team headed by newly-designated bank chief executive Arthur Ty.

"The new management team is viewed as more aggressive, more efficient, with a higher level of corporate governance and better disclosures, and good hires in the executive levels," it explained.

The market-leading capital raising effort by Metrobank was designed to raise "new and pure capital"as differentiated from the sale of bonds.