China Bank hikes debt paper offer to fund expansion

MANILA, Philippines - China Banking Corp. hiked its long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD) offer to raise more funds as investors gobbled up its fixed rate notes. The bank led by the family of retail tycoon Henry Sy initially offered P3 billion worth of the certificates of deposits, even if the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas gave it the green light to offer P5 billion. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, China Bank said it has decided to maximize the issuance after an seeing an "overwhelming" market response. "The success of our maiden issue is very encouraging. We did not foresee that the issue will be oversubscribed by day two, prompting us to offer P2 billion more," Antonio S. Espedido, China Bank senior vice president and head of Treasury, said in a statement. China Bank's LTNCD carried an 8.25 percent interest rate per annum, payable at the end of each quarter. Espedido said the certificates of deposit are "attractive especially to individual investors" and to corporations which prefer returns higher than those offered by regular peso time deposits and government securities. China Bank will use proceeds of the LTNCD to finance its expansion and pay maturing obligations, China Bank corporate information officer Alex Escucha earlier said. China Bank wants to increase the number of its branches to 300 from 199 by 2010. GMANews.TV