The Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM) announced on Monday, September 17, 2018, the start of its offering period to issue Long Term Negotiable Certificate of Time Deposits (LTNCD) in an effort to further boost its strategic initiatives and meet its growth prospects moving forward. This will be the maiden issuance for the Lucio Co-led Bank, which marked its almost eight (8) decades in the banking business earlier this month. Mr. Co has been a strategic partner of the Bank since 2014. The funds will be used for general corporate funding with an emphasis on long term lending.
PBCOM is targeting to raise about 2 Billion Pesos from this exercise although it has Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approval to issue up to 5 Billion Pesos. The offer period for the initial tranche will run from September 17 until September 28. The LTNCDs will feature a term of 5 years and 6 months with an indicative rate of 5.375% to 5.625% and payable quarterly. The rate will be finalized at the end of the offering period and will be exempt from the 20% withholding tax to individual investors if held for more than 5 years. Minimum investment size is P50,000, followed by increments of P10,000.
ING Bank N.V. (Manila Branch) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) have been appointed to act as joint lead arrangers, joint bookrunners, and selling agents for the transaction. PBCOM will also act as a selling agent. The instrument will be listed in the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. platform.