Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and publicly listed SM Prime Holdings, Inc have signed a facility agreement for the issuance of P3 billion worth of SM Prime floating rate notes (FRN) due 2011.

The FRN issue, which was arranged as a private placement, was funded solely by Metrobank First Metro Investment Corp. served as the arranger.

SM Prime’s FRN floatation is the largest fund raising of this nature in the local debt market in recent years. Proceeds form the issue will be used by SM Prime for general corporate requirements.

SM Prime, the country’s leading shopping mall developer and operator, is part of SM Group.

“This is the first complete, major underwriting by Metrobank Group for the SM Group, said SM Prime President Hans T. Sy.

The Metrobank Group had been previously involved in other SM deals albeit on other capacities.

Sy said that, “The transaction officially starts the working relationship between the second generation of the Sy and Ty families and we look forward to many more future transactions, not only in banking but also in partnership of other ventures.

Metrobank president Arthur Ty, for his part, said the bank values the business of the SM Group, “It is a privilege to do business with them, he said.

“This is the first long-term transaction of Metrobank with the SM Group, and we hope to continue form here and expand this relationship, he added.

SM Prime’s FRNs is among the major contracts signed recently by the Metrobank Group. The bank is seen to do more sizeable and important deals with top-tier companies as part of its growth strategy.

Recently’ it reorganized its account management group to cater to different market segments including top-tier corporations, multinationals, middle markets, and entrepreneurial entities.

SM Prime currently has 25 SM malls strategically located nationwide with a total gross floor area of 3.4 million square meters.