PhilTrust to buy 41.74% of PBCom for P2.16B
Philtrust Bank of newspaper magnate Emilio Yap on Tuesday offered to buy 41.74 percent of Philippine Bank of Communications from minority shareholders for P2.16 billion. The Philtrust group is offering to buy 172.60 million PBCom shares at P30 each. Philtrust said the deal will be done through the Philippine Stock Exchange. “Philtrust Bank is making the offer to strengthen its position in the domestic banking industry, expand its branch network, as well as capitalize on and further develop business relationships with existing customers of (PBCom)," Philtrust said in a tender offer report to the PSE. In November 2006, the smaller Philtrust acquired 58.26 percent or 100.56 million shares of PBCom from the Nubla and Chung families. This transaction has yet to be approved by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and other government agencies. The deal did not include the Luy family, which was then the single biggest owner of PBCom, holding 37 percent. Philtrust needs to acquire 67 percent of PBCom to effect a merger. The Luy family has rejected the sale to Philtrust, instead proposing a joint sale to the highest bidder. Banking sources have said there are at least five other groups interested in PBCom. Among those are Lucio Tan’s Philippine National Bank, Security Banking Corp., Union Bank of the Philippines, Export Industry Bank, and the SM group, which controls Banco de Oro, Equitable PCI Bank and China Bank. In a separate regulatory filing with the PSE, Philtrust said its board of directors had approved a plan to convert Philtrust fom a commercial bank to a universal bank, subject to the consent of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. - GMANews.TV