Citystate Bank set to list stocks at PSE this week

Citystate Savings Bank, a mid-sized thrift bank primarily owned by the Cabangon family, will start off the new year for the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) as its stocks get listed this Thursday, Jan. 3.

Although the bank simultaneously held its initial public offering (IPO) with sealant and adhesive maker Federal Chemicals Inc. early last month, it decided to hold off the listing of its shares until this week to, hopefully, make an auspicious kick-off for the local bourse this year, which is expected to recover from its slump to record-lows last year.

The past year, only three issues were listed at the PSE: information technology company SOL*Wizard; property developer Primex Corp.; and FedChem all managing to post modest gains on their first trading days.

For its part, CSB will list 44.1 million common shares at the PSE’s second board. Valued at a par price of P10, about 25 percent of these shares (11.1 million) were floated in the IPO at a price of P11.55 each.

The P128-million gross proceeds of the IPO, the bank said, will be allotted for the expansion of the branch network, information technology expenditures, investments in allied and non-allied undertakings and to complement the funding requirements of its loans and investments in government bonds and similar securities.

Registered as a bank entity on May 20, 1997, CSB was incorporated by a group of Filipino businessmen led by Col. Antonio L. Cabangon-Chua and Alfredo G. Siy. It was granted a Bangko Sentral license to operate as a thrift bank on Aug. 7 of the same year and has increased its authorized capital to P1 billion.

CSB began commercial operations in 1997 with the opening of its first branch in Chino Roces Ave. in Makati, expanding to a total of 12 branches since then, including its head office at the Citystate Center Building along Shaw Blvd. in Pasig. Nine of its branches are in Metro Manila, two are in Bulacan and one in Cebu City.

Cabangon-Chua is the chairman of the ALC Group of Companies, a diversified conglomerate involved in insurance and insurance brokerage through the Fortune Group of Companies, motor vehicle dealership through Gencars Inc. and real estate development. Siy, on the other hand, is the chairman of the Ever Fortune Real Estate Group; Fortune Net and Twine Manufacturing Corp., and Philippine Fishing Gear Industries, among others.

The bank’s principal foreign shareholder is the Citystate Holdings Bank Pte. Ltd. (CHPL), a Singaporean investment and financial holdings corporation, CHPL’s investment in the bank was made through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Newstate Investment Holdings, Pte. Ltd., Aside from its investment in CSB, CHPL also has other investments in Singapore, Brunei and Hong Kong.