BANCO de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) sold P10 billion worth of unsecured subordinated debt eligible as Lower Tier 2 Capital, twice the amount of the original issuance announced last week.

The proceeds will be used to beef up the bank’s capital base and refinance debt. BDO ended its offer period on May 16, a week earlier than originally scheduled. The issue date for the notes is on May 30, 2008.

The bank cut the offer period that was originally scheduled to last until May 23, due to “overwhelming demand for the notes.”

The bank said tenders reached five times the announced issue size. The notes carry a coupon rate of 8.5 percent a year and will be issued at 100 percent of face value.

The debt will be used to support business expansion and to partially refinance the bank’s $200-million unsecured subordinated debt callable in July.

“The notes will also further increase and strengthen BDO’s capital base, ensuring that it has available capital for its growth plans in the coming years,” the bank said in a statement.

The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., ING and Standard Chartered are joint lead arrangers, selling agents and market makers for the issue.

REVENUE inflows in April reached a sufficient amount that Manila was able post a budget surplus of P25.8 billion.

THE peso yesterday closed unchanged in thin trading because of holidays in some Asian countries and persistent worries on inflation and crude prices, currency dealers said.

BANCO de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) sold P10 billion worth of unsecured subordinated debt eligible as Lower Tier 2 Capital, twice the amount of the original issuance announced last week.

BEFORE the cash register stops ringing, you may want to add home insurance to go with that carton of milk or can of spaghetti sauce.

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) would not be pushed into collecting the excise tax on thousands of small-scale gold miners around the country as this would immediately dry up a lucrative source of the precious metal that has helped strengthen the country’s external sector in recent years.