SEC OKs Bank of Commerce’s IPO, SMC’s bond offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Wednesday it has given the thumbs up for the initial public offering (IPO) of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) banking arm Bank of Commerce and SMC’s fixed-rate bond offering.

In a statement, the SEC said its commission en banc, in its February 15 meeting, resolved to render effective the registration statements of Bank of Commerce and SMC covering 1,403,013,920 common shares and up to P60 billion in fixed-rate bonds under shelf registration, respectively, subject to their compliance with certain remaining requirements.

In particular, Bank of Commerce will offer to the public up to 280,602,800 common shares priced at up to P12.50 per share.

The shares will be listed on the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The bank expects to raise about P3.34 billion from the IPO.

Bank of Commerce intends to use the proceeds of the offering to fund its lending activities and finance capital expenditure requirements, in connection with upgrading its automated teller machine (ATM) fleet and core banking system.

Remaining proceeds will also be used for the acquisition of investment securities to meet regulatory liquidity requirements.

As of end-September 2021, Bank of Commerce has a network of 140 branches and 257 ATMs.

The SEC said the bank’s IPO will run from March 7 to 15, with listing on the PSE scheduled for March 23, citing the latest timetable submitted by the lender to the corporate regulator.

Bank of Commerce tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital, Inc. (PCCI), and PNB Capital Investment Corp. as the joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters, and joint bookrunners for the transaction.

SMC, on the other hand, is planning to issue the P60-billion fixed-rate bonds in one or more tranches within three years.

For the first tranche, the publicly listed conglomerate will offer to the public up to P25 billion of five-year Series J bonds due 2027, with an overallotment option of up to P5 billion of seven-year Series K bonds due 2029.

Assuming the overallotment option is fully exercised, SMC could net up to P29,632,386,875 from the offer, according to the SEC.

SMC intends to use the proceeds of the offer for the refinancing of its short-term loan facilities and for other general corporate purposes.

The conglomerate’s bonds comprising will be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on March 1, based on the latest timetable sent to the SEC.

SMC tapped BDO Capital and China Bank Capital as joint issue managers for the offering.

BPI Capital Corp., PCCI, PNB Capital, RCBC Capital Corp., and SB Capital Investment Corp. were tapped as joint lead underwriters and bookrunners.—AOL, GMA News