China Bank to issue 250-M new shares

MANILA, Philippines - China Banking Corp., a banking unit of the Sy Group, intends to issue 250 million shares through a rights offering on April 30.

In  a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Chinabank said it has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to undertake the said rights offer.

“This is to formally inform the Exchange that, in view of the advice received by the Bank of the approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission of its request for exemptive relief from the registration requirements under the Securities Regulation Code in connection with the proposed rights offering of the Bank, the Bank has set April 24, 2014 as the record date for shareholders who are entitled to participate in the rights offer,” it said.

The bank also set the record date of April 24, 2014 for the offering.

Starting the offering on April 30, it expects to end on May 7, 2014.

The bank has yet to determine the offer price for the rights issue.

Last month, Chinabank  announced plans to raise up to P8 billion through a rights offering to finance its strategic expansion program

The bank said it has tapped Citigroup and JP Morgan as joint global coordinators, lead managers and underwriters for the rights issue.

Proceeds from the rights issue would serve as additional capital to enable the bank to pursue growth strategies, it said.

The capital raising scheme would also ensure the bank’s capital adequacy levels to remain above the new Basel III requirements, particularly in light of the recent acquisition of Planters Development Bank.