Land Bank of the Philippines offered to acquire the shares of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. for P281.96 million
The PSE said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it received a letter from LandBank offering to purchase the bourse’s PDSHC shares for P215 apiece, or significantly lower compared with the price last year.
“The offer of Land Bank is valid until 31 January 2019. The company is studying the offer and will make a recommendation to the company’s board of directors,” the PSE said.
The PDSE in April reported it received an offer from LandBank to buy out its shares in PDSHC for P472.12 million, which was equivalent to P360 per share.
The PSE owns roughly a 20-percent interest in PDSHC, which operates the country’s fixed-income exchange.
LandBank sought to take over the bond exchange operator after continued delays in the planned merger of PDS Holdings with the PSE that began in 2013.
The PSE also planned to take over PDS and even secured share purchase agreements with several PDS shareholders owning a combined 72-percent stake.
But until the expiration of the SPAs on March 31, the PSE failed to secure an exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission on the 20 percent single-industry ownership limit.
The PSE had failed to reduce brokers’ ownership in the stock exchange to 20 percent, one of conditions set by the regulator.
With the expiration of the SPAs, shareholders of PDS were free to entertain other offers.
Aside from PSE, the other big shareholders of PDS are Singapore Stock Exchange and Bankers Association of the Philippines, Tata Consultancy Services Asia Pacific Phils, San Miguel Corp., Philippine America Life and General Insurance Co., Development Bank of the Philippines, Social Security System and Citibank NA.