MANILA — The management of Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) has reduced its offer to buy majority stake in the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) from PHP360 apiece to PHP215 after the latter registered lower net asset value.
In an interview with journalists Monday, Landbank President Alex V. Buenaventura said PDSHC posted a net asset value amounting to PHP980.61 billion, after it declared dividends amounting to PHP600 million.
He expressed optimism that stakeholders will still accept the lower offer pointing out that the PHP215 per share continues to have a multiplier of 1.5 times, like the previous offer of PHP360 per share.
“We’re confident that they will still accept our offer,” he said, noting that 43 percent of the existing shareholders have already given their acceptance letters for the earlier offering.
Buenaventura said they were supposed to sign share purchase agreement with the shareholders who have accepted Landbank’s earlier offering but this was postponed due to adjustment in the offering.
The reduced offer will translate to huge savings for the government bank, which initially offered PHP1.5 billion for the controlling stake in PDSHC.
Meanwhile, he said they will issue until end-October this year offer letters using the new price.
“We hope that we get their acceptance letter within November although the offer period is up to end-December,” he said.
Buenaventura said that once they receive the acceptance letter signing of the share purchase agreement will immediately follow.
“We hope that before the end of the year we already acquired 67.67 percent,” he added.
Landbank is firm on buying majority stake in Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) to help develop the country’s equities and fixed income market.
To date, the bank has a 1.56 percent stake in PDSHC “through the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP).
This after BAP signed a Share Purchase Agreement on June 15, 2017 that allowed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to acquire 1,488,902 common shares equivalent to 23.8 percent of PDS’s total outstanding stock for PHP476,448,640 or at PHP320 per share. (PNA)
