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The Philippine Trust Co. (Philtrust) Bank, told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday that the board had “resolved to confirm that the bank is no longer interested in acquiring the controlling shares in Philippine Bank of Communications (PBC0m).” although the bank’s official did not elaborate on its decision.

The Nubla, Luy and Chung families have offered their interest in PBCom for sale, in accordance with the agreement under the Financial Assistance Agreement signed in 2004 with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. a controlling interest of 67 percent in PBCom is now up for sale.

Negotiations between Philtrust and PBCom started in 2006 when the Nubla and Chung families offered their combined shares of stocks totaling 100.6 million shares, which represents 58 percent interest, at an agreed price of P3 billion.

The proposal was met with a tender offer from Philtrust, offering to buy the remaining shares in PBCom, which include those of the Luy family, which had the biggest number of shares in PBCom at 38 percent. The Luys however, rejected the offer.

At the time, rumored to be the reason of the rejection was that the Luys were amenable to a sale of PBCom shares to Lucio Tan, who is also the controlling shareholder of Allied Banking Corp. and Philippine National Bank.

PBCom, together with its financial adviser for the bidding process, the Macquarie Group, said it was set to start discussions with interest parties regarding the share sale. The latest to have been invited to take a look at its assets was the Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines.

The PBCom, who’s now in existence for 69 years, had P44.78 billion in total assets as of first quarter, which was down by P3.2 billion from the end-2008 figure as deposits and borrowed funds decreased. Negative perceptions brought about by the bank’s eventual sale have prompted depositors to withdraw their money.