The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The SM Group’s lending arm BDO Unibank Inc. aims to add 50 to 70 new local branches to its network in 2017 as part of its steps to expand footprint, optimistic about the prospects of the economy.
BDO President and Chief Executive Officer Nestor Tan said the new branches would be located mostly outside the National Capital Region (NCR).
“We are seeing more investments particularly outside the NCR so our outlook is a little more optimistic now, and I think it is reflected in the size of our rights issue. We took on a huge amount of capital as we expect the economy to grow,” he told reporters.
Tan attributed brisk economic activities to the resurgence of cities outside the NCR and major cities fueled by the remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and revenues from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
BDO has successfully completed its P60-billion common stock rights offering, the largest ever common equity capital raise from the Philippine market.
Tan said net proceeds of the rights offering would be used to support its loan business and for general working capital.
The offer increases BDO’s Common Equity Tier 1 Capital, making the bank better positioned to fulfill its medium-term growth objectives and take advantage of the positive outlook on the Philippine economy.
It was fully subscribed and led by major shareholder SM Group. The offer also saw strong participation from the bank’s domestic and international investors.
The 716,402,886 rights shares were issued pursuant to the offer at a price of P83.75 each and listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Tuesday.
BDO’s total issued and outstanding common shares after the stock rights offering will be 4.37 million.
Credit Suisse, UBS and BDO Capital served as Joint Global Coordinators and together with the Joint Global Coordinators, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC acted as joint bookrunners.
BDO Capital and Investment Corp served as issue manager and domestic underwriter.