GT Capital fully subscribing to Metrobank stock rights

MANILA, Philippines — GT Capital Holdings Inc. plans to fully participate in  Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.’s stock rights offer.

The George Ty-led conglomerate owns 36.09 percent of Metrobank, one of the country’s largest banks in terms of assets, deposit base, and equity.

Metrobank has announced plans to sell a maximum of 819.8 million common shares to stockholders.

The bank has yet to finalize the timing, size of the transaction and the offer price.

A portion of the proceeds will be used for the acquisition of the remaining 20 percent equity stake in Metrobank Card Corp. (MCC).

MCC is the industry leader in terms of cards-in-force and receivables based on the latest data from the Credit Card Association of the Philippines.

The acquisition will increase the bank’s ownership in MCC to 100 percent.

Moving forward, Metrobank believes the robust growth of the Philippines will continue to support the prospects for accelerated loan expansion across the various segments of the economy.

The bank seeks to capitalize on the growth opportunities of large cap corporations and the middle market and small to medium enterprises segments.

As of the end of Sept. 2017, the bank had a total capital adequacy ratio of 16 percent and common equity tier 1  of 13.3 percent, both ratios above the BSP requirements.

Metrobank has mandated UBS as joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the rights offer along with First Metro Investment Corp. as joint global coordinator, bookrunner and issue manager.