PBB to debut at PSE this wk

MANILA, Philippines - Thrift lender Philippine Business Bank (PBB) of the Zest-O Group will debut in the local bourse this week, marking the first listing for this year.

Shares of PBB will start trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange’s main board on Feb. 19, completing its P3.19-billion initial public offering (IPO).

Investors swamped the IPO, with demand more than four times the stocks up for sale, said Roberto Juanchito T. Dispo, president of issue underwriter First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC).

Dispo said strong demand from both institutional and retail investors was hinged on the strong business model of PBB, which focuses on small and medium enterprises (SME).

PBB, which will list 343.33 million common shares in the PSE, offered to sell 101.333 million common shares on Feb. 6-12.

Underwriters FMIC and SB Capital Investment Corp. earlier trimmed the offer price to P31.50 per share from a maximum price of P41.94 earlier to give investors more leeway to earn from stock price appreciation.

Fresh capital from the IPO will allow the bank to strengthen its foothold in the SME sector.

PBB plans to put up 22 additional branches to reach a total 100 at the end of the year.

As of end-September last year, PBB is the fifth largest thrift bank in the Philippines with P29.7 billion in assets.

PBB, which ended last year with 78 branches of which 41 are located in Metro Manila, posted P624.10 million in earnings in the nine months to September from P549 million a year ago.

PBB plans to grow its asset base aggressively, focusing on loan growth, expand consumer loan portfolio through expanded branch network and improve the use of the funds through the trading business particularly in low loan demand period.