PSE oks listing of BDO shares for merger

The Philippine Stock Exchange has approved the application of Banco de Oro Universal Bank to list additional shares to cover its merger with Equitable PCI Bank Inc. In a statement posted at the PSE website, Banco de Oro - a member of the SM Group of Companies - said it was informed that the PSE approved the listing of 1,308,606,021 additional BDO common shares with a par value of P10 per share. This, BDO said was meant to cover BDO's merger with Equitable PCI Bank Inc. at an exchange ratio of 1.80:1. In December last year, stockholders of Banco de Oro and Equitbale PCI approved the planned merger of the two banks, which would pave the way for the creation of the country's second largest bank in terms of assets. SM Investments Corp., the parent company of Banco de Oro, offered to pay, in four tranches, about P44.15 billion for the Equitable PCI shares. SM Investments paid 10 percent of the transaction last October 2. Ten percent will be paid on June 2, 2007, the remaining 80 percent in 2008. - GMANews.TV