Landbank extends offer for PDS buyout anew

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Land Bank of the Philippines has extended for another month the offer period for the purchase of shares of Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) following the adjustment in its proposed purchase price.

Landbank president and chief executive officer Alex Buenaventura said the bank has given PDSHC shareholders another month to respond to its offer to buy their shares in the company at P215 apiece.

“The offer period has been extended to Jan. 31.” Buenaventura told reporters in an interview.

Last year, Landbank revised its offer price for PDSHC to P215 per share from the previous price of P360 per share. Buenaventura said the decision came after the fixed-income bourse declared dividends.

He said the new purchase price is locked in based on a net asset value of P980.61 million, with any excess accrued as dividends to existing shareholders.

Originally, the offer period was until the end of December 2018.

However, the Landbank chief said there was an extension in the offer period as shareholders previously tried to negotiate for a better purchase price. 

“The sellers, after we published the P215 last year, tried to negotiate for a better price, but we finally decided to stick to the price,” he said.

Despite this, Buenaventura expressed confidence that shareholders would still be open to selling their shares in PDSHC.

“We are very confident because from their reaction when we gave them the original letter, the response was strong. We got 43 percent of the shareholders who responded positively. We expect a similar, positive response,” he said.

Currently, PDSHC has a total outstanding shares of 6.25 million, with the PSE owning 20.98 percent, the Singapore Exchange Ltd. at 20 percent, the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) – for itself and as trustee of its member-banks – at 13.26 percent, BAP – other member-banks – at 9.78 percent, Tata Consultancy Services Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. at eight percent, among others. 

Landbank owns 1.56 percent of the company through the Bankers Association of the Philippines. If it successfully acquires at least 66.67 percent of the fixed income bourse, its stake would increase to 68.23 percent.

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 this would allow the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as other sectors to raise capital through securities.