Minority group in UOBP splits from Espiritu-led faction

The ownership dispute at the United Overseas Bank of the Philippines (UOBP) is not completely over yet even as the majority owners have reached a settlement with the Espiritu-led minority group.

Previous reports indicated that the United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOBL) of Singapore, which controls over 60 percent equity in the bank, has settled its differences with the Westmont Investment Corp. (Wincorp.) led by Former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu, the group represented by Jollibee Foods Corp. president Antonio Tan Caktiong, and the Farmix Fertilizers Corp. group.

It now appears that the Farmix group, which controls 10.4-percent of total shares worth over P25.8 million, is not going along with the deal. The Farmix group has reportedly written a letter informing the UOBL that they had terminated the power of attorney and other powers of authority that they had previously issued to the Espiritu/Caktiong group headed by John Anthony B. Espiritu.

The Farmix group appointed instead Juanita U. Tan to represent their 10.4-percent stake. "Needless to say, any compromise agreement or settlement which may be reached between UOBL and the UOBP with the Espiritu group shall not be binding," the group said in a letter to the UOBP. The group includes the Pearlbank Securities Inc., Manuel N. Tankiansee and Tan.

The majority group bought out the other week the minority group for P1.4 billion after signing a memorandum of agreement after months of internal squabble leading to an arbitration case filed with the Australian Commercial Dispute Center (ACDC) based in Sydney.

The Singapore group agreed to drop all its claims versus the minority group for the sake of the bank. The dispute between the two groups had so intensified that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was forced to intervene to prevent any untoward incident which may lead to a bank run.

BSP Governor Rafael B. Buenaventura openly called on both parties in late June to settle the issue and "find a win-win formula or face the risk of both losing the bank."

"The sooner they resolve the issue the better for the bank. Continued strife would likely result to a loss of depositors and other bank clients. Posturing by both parties is all counter-productive," Buenaventura added.