BDO Unibank (BDO) closed and signed a $500 million three-year syndicated term loan facility with a diverse group of international banks, considered to be the largest syndicated loan transaction by a Philippine financial institution to-date.

BDO said the lead arrangers and bookrunners were Bank of America, Deutsche Bank AG (Singapore Branch), HSBC, Mizuho Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and United Overseas Bank Limited.

The facility generated strong interest and was oversubscribed, prompting BDO to upsize it to $500 million from the initial tranche of $350 million.

Lending commitments were received from various lenders widely distributed across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. BDO intends to utilize the facility for refinancing of an existing term loan and for general banking and corporate purposes.