Equitable-PCI, the Philippines' third largest bank by assets, completed a $130 million 10 non call five, lower tier 2 debt issue on Friday via bookrunner UBS Warburg and joint lead Deutsche Bank.
The deal represents the first from the Republic since its rating downgrade and while underlying market conditions are currently strong for most Asian credits, market participants do not believe this necessarily holds true for paper from Philippines, where the credit outlook remains clouded.
Equitable-PCI, nevertheless, spotted a window to secure the most cost effective pricing it could and priced at 98.733% on a coupon of 9.375% to yield 9.7% or 718bp over Treasuries. At this level it came at...
