The Philippine central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has increased its five-year loan facility to $675 million, one-third more than the original size of $500 million it intended to borrow when it awarded the mandate in the end of May. In doing so BSP achieved the double distinction of tapping the largest Asian sovereign loan in 2002 and the largest US dollar-denominated loan from Asia (ex-Japan) year to date.
The deal pays a margin of 190bp over six-month Libor. Participation fees for senior managers with commitments of $40 million and above comes to 67.5bp, with all-in of 203.5bp over Libor. Lead managers receive 50bp participation fees (all-in 200bp) for commitments of $20 million-$39 million, while managers receive 25bp participation fees (all-in 195) for commitments of $10 million-$19 million. The final allocations are as follows:
|
|
Bangko Sentral Pilipinas $675 million Loan Facility | Allotment (US$) |
|
|
Senior Lead Managers |
|
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. | 100,000,000 |
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation | 100,000,000 |
Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) | 80,000,000 |
HSBC | 50,000,000 |
Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) | 40,000,000 |
| |
Lead Managers | |
Banco de Oro Universal Bank | 30,000,000 |
Bank of China, Manila | 30,000,000 |
Chinatrust Commercial Bank | 25,000,000 |
BNP Paribas, Manila | 21,000,000 |
DBS | 21,000,000 |
ING Bank | 21,000,000 |
Standard Chartered | 21,000,000 |
Equitable PCI Bank | 20,000,000 |
KBC Bank, Manila | 20,000,000 |
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation | 20,000,000 |
Tokyo Mitsubishi International (HK) | 20,000,000 |
| |
Managers | |
Barclays Capital | 10,000,000 |
Citibank, Manila | 10,000,000 |
Emirates Bank International PJSC | 10,000,000 |
ICBC, Manila | 10,000,000 |
LBKiel | 10,000,000 |
Bank of China, Bangkok Branch and Office of Bangkok International Facilities | 6,000,000 |
| |
Total | 675,000,000 |
BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, ING Bank and Standard Chartered were the bookrunners for the transaction. As expected the major commitments were seen from domestic banks in the Philippines. However, the deal also saw tremendous interest from foreign banks with commitments during general syndication reaching over $300 million. Of the 22 banks participating in the transaction, five were from the Philippines, while the rest were predominantly from the rest of Asia and Europe.
Proceeds from the loan will be utilized to repay the $740 million three-year loan borrowed in March last year. That loan paid a margin of 270bp over Libor. The present facility features a conversion option whereby lenders can opt to convert their term loans to floating rate notes (FRN) on the first interest payment date.
The loan will add to the external debt of the Philippines, which at the end of March 2002 stood at $53.4 billion, of which the public sector share amounted to 65.4%. Gross international reserves (GIR) at the end of March amounted to $17.4 billion.
