Row among UOBP owners deepens

The dispute between two factions of former owners of the United Overseas Bank of the Philippines (UOBP) turned from bad to worse amid charges of alleged opportunism by the minority shareholders.

Lawyer Francis Lim, senior partner of the ACCRA Law and legal counsel for the controlling Espiritu-Tan Caktiong Group, accused the Farmix Group of illegally increasing their 7.66-percent stake in UOBP, formerly known as Westmont Bank, to 10.36 percent.

Lim described as "a classic case of opportunism" attempts by Farmix owners Manuel Tankiansee and wife Juanita Uy Tan to raise their stake in UOBP after the Espiritu-Tan Caktiong Group forged a P700-million buy-out deal with the Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOBL).

The Espiritu Group went to court in early 2002 to force the Singaporeans to pay for their total takeover of the UOBP, formerly known as the Westmont Bank.

Lim asserted that the Farmix Group, consisting of Farmix Fertilizer Corp., Pearl Bank Securities Inc. and the Tan couple, bailed out of the suit when negotiations with UOBL met rough sailing.

"Tan and the Farmix Group are falling over one another in a bid to get a bigger share of 10.3 now that a settlement with UOBL has been reached. They abandoned what they thought was a sinking ship and now they want to receive more than their fair share of the harvest. Isn’t that a classic case of opportunism and greed?" Lim noted.

He also said Farmix failed to contribute its share of the filing fee and went so far as revoking the authority it had previously granted John Espiritu to act in its behalf.

The Farmix Group’s share in UOBP was allegedly reduced to 7.6 percent when Tan declined to come across with its share of fresh capital needed to buy the Malaysians out of Westmont Bank, the son of former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu and friend Alfonso Reyno III to raise the equivalent amount.

"Manny Tan himself has admitted this fact, he has never contested it. Even the board minutes and books of UOBP will bear this out," the lawyer argued.

The Malaysian by-out was one of the conditions imposed by the Singaporeans for the takeover of the bank.

Farmix belatedly intervened in the suit when victory was already within reach, Lim said. The move was construed as tacit acceptance of the deal struck by the Espiritu-Tan Caktiong Group represented by Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corp.