Ayala to subscribe P10 billion on stock rights offer of BPI
Posted on June 18th, 2010
Up to P10 billion worth of stocks in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will be purchased by the Ayala Corp. Chief finance officer Delfin C. Gonzales Jr. of Ayala Corp., in a disclosure to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the board has approved the subscription “to our pro-rata share in the stock rights offering of BPI of up to P10 billion.”
The company already owns 706.936 million common shares of BPI or roughly 21 percent of total outstanding shares. Recently, Ayala Corp. also bought back its own outstanding shares as well its treasury shares, amounting to P9.75 billion and P13.1 billion, respectively.
BPI corporate secretary Carlos B. Aquino said in an earlier report that the stock rights offer is aimed at boosting the bank’s capital, thus preparing it “to grab growth opportunities, organic or through acquisition.”
Aquino said, “The bank expects the rights issue to enhance its competitive differentiation versus its peers in the market as it seeks to capitalize on opportunities in the banking sector while also addressing market expectation for higher core equity levels for financial institutions globally.”
BPI could be eyeing to acquire some of the banks who up on the sale block like the Philippine Bank of Communication (PBCom) and the Security Banking Corp. (SBC). There were unconfirmed reports that there are at least three interested parties who are looking to acquire PBCom.
PBCom is said to be an attractive bank to acquire, because it has a number of branches located within the restricted areas for branch expansions, and it is strong in the middle market segment of the banking sector.
These restricted areas, which were assigned by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), were mostly within the Metro Manila area.
