Philippine National Bank [PNB 28.00, up 0.5%; 89% avgVol] [link] updated the property dividend that its board first approved back on April 23, 2021 to say that it has set Oct. 25, 2024 as the Distribution Date for payment of the dividend. Those PNB shareholders of record as of 18 May 2021 who were issued electronic Certificates Authorizing Registration by the BIR by 29 August 2024 and who have “fully settled their obligations” will receive 0.156886919 shares of PNB Holdings Corp. (PHC) for every 1 PNB share. PNB did not provide any guidance on whether the PHC shares will be listed.
MB bottom-line: The glacial pace of this process has drawn criticism from investors and even some lawmakers. It’s been so long that I can’t remember why PNB didn’t just list PHC by way of introduction. I remember a few stories (as early as 2022 and as recently as April of this year) where PNB expressed interest in IPO'ing PHC, but always (seemingly) in the context of a traditional IPO through the sale of shares to the public. Do they still plan to do that traditional IPO sometime soon and then just quietly list all these distributed PHC shares alongside the rest of the public float on PHC’s eventual listing date? I know the architect of this deal. Wick Veloso, has since moved on to bigger things, but it feels to me like PNB is not holding up its end of the investor relations bargain by remaining so silent on this issue. If I’ve missed material news on its plans, I apologize in advance, but I’ve gone through several reports and done several searches and can’t find anything definitive from PNB on the issue.
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