PBCom sells $99.28mn worth of shares

PBCom has about 52.6mn common shares and another 120mn preferred shares to which the floor price of P25 a share would apply for this bidding.

Medium-sized lender Philippine Bank of Communications is up for rebidding to prospective new investors this month at a floor price of about P4.3 billion ($99.28 million), banking sources told the Inquirer.

The Macquarie group, adviser to PBCom’s controlling stakeholders, recently sent a new round of invitations to several banks that might be interested to expand through a merger and acquisition, the sources said.

Interested parties were given until May 31 to submit a proposal to the key shareholders of PBCom who are willing to sell their shares at a minimum price of P25 ($0.58) a share, the sources said. This was the same level at which the shares were put up for sale in an earlier bidding.

Based on data from the Philippine Stock Exchange, PBCom has about 52.6 million common shares and another 120 million preferred shares to which the floor price of P25 ($0.58) a share would apply for this bidding. This means that PBCom is valued at about P4.3 billion ($99.28 million), including the amount to be spent for the mandatory tender to minority shareholders.

Macquarie had attempted to auction PBCom in the last few years in line with bank shareholders’ commitment to Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to turn over a controlling stake to a new investor five years after the state-run insurer supported the bank’s P10.5-billion ($242.21 million) rehabilitation in 2004. PDIC has contributed P7.6 billion ($175.48 million) to the bank’s rehabilitation program.

View the full story in The Philippine Daily Inquirer.