Chinatrust to voluntarily delist shares at PSE

MANILA, Philippines - Chinatrust (Philippines) Commercial Bank Corp. will delist its common shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) after its shareholders, controlling more than 2/3 of the outstanding capital stock, approved the delisting plan.

The bank filed yesterday its petition for voluntary delisting at the bourse. Likewise, it has set a tender offer to acquire the remaining outstanding common shares or roughly 0.59 percent of capital stocks still held by the public.

The tender offer price was set at P26.14 per share. The bank’s stock was trading at over P27 per share at the start of December, reaching a high of P28.

China Trust said the move to delist at the bourse was prompted by the re-imposition by the PSE of the minimum public float requirement which took effect on November 2010.

The rules prescribed a 10-percent minimum public ownership for listed companies.

Non-compliance, starting December this year, will be slapped monetary penalties, and will be the basis for involuntary delisting on the 36th month if the minimum public ownership is still not met.

Last October, Chinatrust Commercial Bank Ltd. informed Chinatrust Philippines that “it is not selling any of its shares” in the local bank. Chinatrust Commercial is the majority shareholder, holding 99.41 percent of total equity.

In the first nine months of 2011, the bank reported a net income of P341 million. Return on equity (ROE) stood at 7.59 percent and return on assets (ROA) at 1.94 percent.

Increase in trading gains on securities of 21 percent to P275 million contributed to the higher net income before tax, partly offset by a decrease in net interest income on account of lower average volume of loans and lower commission earned from credit-related transactions.

Total resources stood at P22.1 billion while total deposits amounted to

P14 billion, 15 percent lower compared to 2010 year end level of P16.9 billion.