LT Group to invest P2.2 B in PNB-Allied

MANILA, Philippines - LT Group Inc., the investment holding company of tycoon Lucio Tan, will invest more than P2.2 billion to acquire shares in the merged Philippine National Bank-Allied Banking Corp., a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said.

The company said bulk of the investment, or P800 million, will be used to purchase shares in Lead Holdings Corp., a holding firm which has a stake at PNB-Allied Bank.

Another big chunk of the proposed investment, or P748 million, will be used to acquire 85 percent of Multiple Star Holdings Corp., a company which also has shares in the merged bank.

LT Group will also spend about P245 million to acquire shares in Merit Holdings & Equities Corp., Ivory Holdings Corp. and Dunmore Development Corp.

The company also proposed to acquire eight more holding firms which have shares in PNB-Allied Bank. These are Donfar Management Ltd., Fast Return Enterprises Ltd., Fragile Touch Investments Ltd., Mavelstone International Ltd., Uttermost Success Ltd. and Key Landmark Investments Ltd.

In its disclosure to the PSE, the group said “the investments in the above-named companies were made by way of purchase of shares from stockholders and subscription to an increase in the authorized capital stock.”

It said the investments were also based on the respective par value per share of the holding companies.

Each of the PNB investor firms, LT Group said, has issued a special power of attorney in favor of Lucio Tan to represent their shares in all stockholders’ meetings.

But LT Group said five of these holding firms have yet to secure approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase their respective capital to accommodate Tan’s investments.

As this developed, outgoing Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president Aurelio Montinola III, in a separate interview, said “there are still no significant development on the proposed three-way merger of BPI and PNB-Allied Bank.”

I think it’s the same status as before. There’s nothing disclosable. I think that is not an interesting topic anymore,” Montinola said.

According to him, they are busy growing BPI organically.

“We’ve always said that we’ve an organic growth model that we focus on.

So that is what we are focusing on. But if opportunities come along we look at them,” he said.