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Friday, March 29, 2024

Robinsons Retail buying another 4.4% stake in BPI

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Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. said Friday it will purchase more shares in Bank of the Philippine Islands, bolstering a shared growth strategy that will generate synergistic value for the group and its partners.

Robinsons Retail said its board approved on Jan. 5 the purchase of the 4.4-percent effective equity interest of Arran Investment Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of GIC Private Limited, in BPI. GIC is a sovereign wealth fund that manages Singapore’s foreign reserves.

Robinsons Retail owns 2.4 percent of BPI’s outstanding capital stock after the merger between BPI and Robinsons Bank last year.

It said that through redeemable preferred shares, Arran owns 21.9 percent of Liontide Holdings Inc., which has a 20-percent equity interest in BPI. Arran will redeem a portion of its preferred shares in Liontide as part of the transaction.

The underlying BPI shares, representing 3.3-percent equity interest in BPI, will then be purchased directly by Robinsons Retail.

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Robinsons Retail will simultaneously acquire preferred shares in Liontide, which are redeemable to BPI shares, representing 1.1 percent of BPI’s outstanding shares.

Credit Suisse served as the adviser to GIC in the transaction.

“We envision Robinsons Retail to become a leading retailer with excellent financial products for customers and suppliers alike―and the partnership with BPI simply accelerates this aspiration,” said Robinsons Retail president and chief executive Robina Gokongwei-Pe.

“We expect to generate more value by combining BPI’s premium banking ecosystem with the consumer-oriented ecosystem of Robinsons Retail, complemented further by our digital businesses,” said Gokongwei-Pe.

Robinsons Retail said it would be able to tap into the extensive consumer customer base of BPI to cross-sell products and services, while giving Robinsons Retail suppliers the capability to tap into BPI’s vast financial products to help fund their working capital requirements as they expand their business.

Robinsons Retail said it would also receive a steady stream of dividends from one of the country’s largest and most profitable banks.

The respective boards of BPI, JG Summit Capital Services Corp. and Robinsons Retail approved the merger of BPI and Robinsons Bank Corp. on Sept. 30, 2022, with BPI as the surviving entity, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

The merger will result in Robinsons Bank shareholders collectively holding 6 percent of BPI’s resulting outstanding capital stock (3.6 percent for JG Capital and 2.4 percent for Robinsons Retail), representing their respective equity interests of 60 percent and 40 percent in Robinsons Bank).

Meanwhile, BPI said Friday it priced its 1.5-year peso fixed-rate bonds due 2024 called BPI Reinforcing Inclusive Support for MSMEs Bonds with an aggregate principal amount of P5 billion with option to upsize.

The BPI RISE bonds will be issued at par value, bearing an interest rate of 5.75 percent per annum, paid quarterly.

Applications to purchase the BPI RISE Bonds will have a minimum investment amount of P1 million and additional increments of P100,000.

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