Landbank secures 43% PDS shares

MANILA, Philippines — Several shareholders of Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) have already expressed their intent to sell their stakes to Land Bank of the Philippines, a top official of the bank said yesterday.

Landbank president and chief executive officer Alex Buenaventura said these shareholders, when combined hold about 43 percent of the shares of the fixed-income bourse.

“Many have already accepted the offer, for now, representing about 43 percent of PDS shares,” Buenaventura said in an interview.

The Landbank chief said the share purchase agreements with the interested sellers are now being finalized, and would hopefully be finished by the end of the week.

Following this development, Buenaventura expressed confidence the bank would be able to secure at least 66.67 percent of PDSHC’s shares.

“Once we finalize with the 43 percent, the others will follow. The others are just on wait-and-see stance. We might even exceed 67 percent,” he said.

Landbank earlier expressed its intent to acquire 66.67 percent of PDSHC’s common shares at P360 per share, payable in cash.

Buenaventura said this is equivalent to 4.167 million shares, with a total amount of P1.5 billion. He said the bank will source this amount from existing capital.

“We are investing in shares of PDSHC. It’s within our allowable investments, so we have funds available,” the official said.

Buenaventura earlier said acquiring the majority control of PDSHC would help strengthen the financial position of the bank, and contribute to the development of the domestic capital market.

He said the majority control of the PDSHC would allow the small and medium enterprises, as well as other sectors to raise money through securities.