PNB raising $1 billion from offshore debt market

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Bank (PNB) is tapping the offshore debt market to raise as much as $1 billion to beef up its capital base and bankroll its expansion program.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), PNB said its board of directors approved the establishment of a $1 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) program.

The bank, owned by businessman Lucio Tan, is the country’s fifth largest bank in terms of assets with P779.79 billion and is ranked fourth in terms of capital with P108.9 billion.

PNB has authorized its officers to select the arrangers, lead managers, book runners, and co-managers and other third parties, and to determine the terms of EMTN issuance.

In January, PNB announced it was raising as much as P20 billion through the issuance of long term negotiable certificates of deposits (LTNCD) to extend the maturity profile of the bank’s liabilities as part of overall liability management, to comply with required BSP liquidity ratios.

Likewise, proceeds would also help raise long-term funds for general corporate purposes.

LTNCD offers higher interest rates, but cannot be pre-terminated like regular time deposits.

Last October, PNB raised P6.35 billion from the issuance of LTNCD due April 2023, more than double the issue size of P3 billion.

PNB booked a double-digit 14 percent growth in net income to P8.2 billion, while consolidated resources rose 11 percent to P836.2 billion.