BCP Eyes Further Funding

Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) has finished its issuance for this year but will likely return for more in 2011. “We’re always looking for funding,” Gonzalo Alvarez-Calderon, BCP’s head of international business, tells LatinFinance. He adds that BCP has been seeing 20% annual loan growth, which it will continue to support by borrowing. The bank has not decided how much it will look to raise next year. It recently closed a $350m 3-year syndicated loan priced at 175bp over Libor, which it upsized from an original $300m. The deal via Citi and Standard Chartered was syndicated to 16 banks, including Chang Hwa, Bank of Taiwan and Malayan Banking Berhad. Alvarez-Calderon says the leads were incentivized to bring in Asian institutions. Total demand was $387m. The deal is for general corporate purposes, in particular to fund loan growth. The facility follows an $800m September issue of 2020 bonds. The BBB/Baa2 deal priced at 99.763 with a 5.375% coupon to yield 5.406%, or UST plus 265bp, the tight end of 275bp area guidance. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank managed the sale, the first bond from BCP since a $250m hybrid in November 2009.