PNB public float drops to 19% on Allied merger

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Bank (PNB) trimmed down its public float to 18.99 percent from 31.15 percent as a result of its merger with Allied Banking Corp., a bank report to the Philippine Stock Exchange said.

Still, PNB’s public float remains well within the 10-percent minimum requirement set by the PSE.

PNB president and CEO Byron Omar Mier said the drop in the public ownership of the bank is just an offshoot of the merger.

“Right now, Allied Bank’s ownership by the Lucio Tan Group is about 80-90 percent while ownership in PNB is lower than that. As a result of the share swap, the public exposure in the bank dropped,” he explained.

But Mier said they expect the public share in PNB to eventually improve in the future.

“Over time, we see the public increasing their share in PNB as people may start buying more shares of the bank or if  we raise additional capital,” he said.

After the merger, the number of shares held by foreign shareholders, on other hand, increased to 317.36 million from 164.09 million.

Shareholdings by domestic investors also widened to 768.84 million from 498.15 million.

The total number of PNB’s outstanding shares currently stands at 1.08 billion from the previous 662.24 million before the merger.

At the same time, the PNB board gave its go-signal to raise the merged banks’ authorized capital stock to P70 billion from P50 billion at a par value of P40.

PNB had set Feb. 9 as the effective date of its merger with Allied Bank.

The merger called for the reclassification of PNB’s authorized preferred shares into common shares; and an increase in the number of its board of directors.

With the merger, PNB expects its return-on-equity (ROE) to reach 15 percent .

The bank also sees a loan growth level of 15 percent this year.

It also expects to perform well in terms of generating more income and attracting more clients through its consumer and lending products.