RIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corp. (RCBC) has raised $350 million from its offering of five-year sustainability bonds, marking its return to the dollar debt markets after a year.
The five-year senior unsecured fixed-rate sustainability notes were priced at a coupon of 5.375% per annum, RCBC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday.
They will be issued on Jan. 28 and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd., similar to RCBC’s other two outstanding dollar bond issuances.
“The transaction saw strong interest from a wide range of high-quality Asian and European investors, which allowed the bank to tighten final price guidance to 115 basis points (bps) over the five-year Treasury yield,” the Yuchengco-led bank said.
This was tighter than the initial price guidance of 145 bps over the five-year Treasury yield, it noted.
“This is the tightest pricing spread achieved among RCBC’s US dollar senior unsecured issuances.”
The offer saw a final orderbook of over $1 billion, almost three times the initial offer amount of $500 million, RCBC said.
“The notes saw orders from more than 77 accounts — clearly reflecting global investors’ continued confidence in RCBC and its credit. The orderbook was well diversified with 57% allocated to asset managers, 38% to banks, and 5% to insurance companies and private banks,” it added.
The bank’s latest issuance will mature on Jan. 29, 2030 and was rated Baa3 by Moody’s Ratings.
They will be issued out of RCBC’s $4-billion medium-term note program and under its Sustainable Finance Framework.
“The net proceeds from the issue of the notes will be applied by RCBC to support and finance and/or refinance RCBC’s loans to customers or its own operating activities in eligible green and social categories as defined in RCBC’s Sustainable Finance Framework,” the bank said.
RCBC appointed ING Bank N.V.-Singapore Branch, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc and SMBC Nikko Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd. as the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the offering.
Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP was appointed as international legal counsel, while Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles is the domestic legal counsel. P&A Grant Thornton was also tapped as the auditor for the offer.
The mandate for a potential dollar sustainability bond transaction was announced on Monday, with RCBC holding a series of investor calls that day for market feedback. Terms for the offer and initial pricing were announced on Tuesday.
RCBC Chief Executive Officer Eugene S. Acevedo earlier said the bank is looking to tap both offshore and domestic debt markets on a regular basis as part of their new funding strategy to maintain a steady presence in the capital markets.
The listed bank’s net income decreased by 37.01% to P1.77 billion in the third quarter of 2024. This brought its net profit for the first nine months of 2024 to P6.22 billion, 31.12% lower year on year.
RCBC shares were last traded on Tuesday, closing at P24.05 apiece. — Aaron Michael C. Sy
