Finance Manila - Philippines, business, tech, travel, life in the metro

Banco de Oro will offer to the public PhP 10B worth of unsecured and subordinated notes as part of its capital build up. It will have a maturity of 10 years but Banco de Oro may call it after 5 years. The coupon will be based 7% paid semi-annually. The coupon will incorporate a step up rate if the issuer does not call the note after 5 years. Interest income for individuals is exempt from tax. The issue is negotiable however, the applicable withholding tax will apply on the interest earned based on the length of time the note is held. Minimum amount is PhP 500,000.00.

These notes are a direct, unconditional and unsecured obligation of the bank. They are junior to bank deposits and other senior forms of indebtedness but are senior to all classes of equity securities. They are not bank deposits and are therefore not covered by PDIC.    Read more... (170 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Metrobank is issuing subordinated notes otherwise known as lower tier-2 notes as part of their capital build up. The issue has a tenor of 10 years callable by the issuer after 5 years which means Metrobank may redeem the note after 5 years. The note carries a coupon of 7% payable quarterly. If they do not redeem the note, there is a step up feature which will add 2.44% to 80% of the prevailing interest rate after 5 years. The issue size is PhP 5.0 Billion. The co-arrangers are ING Bank and Standard Chartered. The selling agents include the arranging banks, Metrobank, First Metro Investment Corp., and  Multinational Investment Bancorporation. The minimum amount for investment is Php 500,000.00 with increments of php 100,000.00 after.   Read more... (221 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

After last Friday's EB, I was originally thinking of writing about UITFs but thought it might be better to discuss the assets held by these funds. Because FM is a bulletin board primarily dedicated to the discussion of the Philippine Stock Market, I presume everyone is familiar with stocks, the holdings of equity funds. The focus of this article will then be bonds which comprise the portfolio of bond, fixed income, and (partly of) balanced funds.

Simply put, bonds represent debt obligations that promise to pay a specified sum of money on a specified future date(s). The issuer of a bond is called a borrower. The investor in a bond is called a creditor. The term to maturity of the bond is the number of years between its issue date and its maturity date. The issuer pays interest on the amount borrowed until the bond's maturity date when the principal is returned and the debt extinguished.  Read more... (622 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Last August 31, 2007, I entered into a trade with a buy of 3,000 shares of Meralco B at 102.00 The previous night I had studied its chart and concluded that a break out from the neck line of a reverse head and shoulders was about to occur. The volume of shares traded seemed to confirm it and when a senior officer of a foreign bank confirmed that the ERC decision would be out that afternoon and that it would be generally favorable to Meralco, I regarded the trade as low risk despite having risen almost 10% from it's previous drop. After all, the stock's appeared to be stronger than the rest of the market. When the stock closed at 104.00, it seemed that I had made the correct decision.  Read more... (683 words, estimated 2:44 mins reading time)