BPI offers P5-B fixed-rate bonds

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will offer peso fixed-rate sustainability bonds worth P5 billion next month. The debt securities are also called BPI SINAG Bonds.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, BPI said SINAG (Supporting Inclusion, Nature, and Growth) Bonds will have a tenor of one and a half years.

The bank set the minimum investment at P500,000 and increments at P100,000.

The offer period will run from 20 to 30 May this year. The SINAG Bonds are expected to be listed with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on 10 June.

Refinancing of projects

“The net proceeds of the offer will be used for the financing or refinancing of eligible projects under BPI’s Sustainable Funding Framework consistent with the ASEAN Sustainability Bond Standards,” BPI said.

The issuance of the P5 billion SINAG Bonds will mark BPI’s inaugural tranche of its P200-billion Bond and Commercial Paper Program.

The BPI Board of Directors approved the program on 16 October 2024.

The designated joint arrangers and sellers for the SINAG Bonds are BPI Capital Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank.

In 2021, BPI committed to stop funding new coal projects under its Energy Transition Financing Facility which requires companies to retire their coal plants 15 years ahead of their technical lives and shift to renewable power plants.

BPI chief of sustainability Eric Luchangco said last year that the bank’s eco-friendly project loans exceeded 50 percent of its energy loan portfolio.

BPI officials added that the bank has already financed 398 projects amounting to P252 billion under its Sustainable Development Finance Program. This program funds the construction of energy-efficient buildings and sustainable agricultural projects.