The Philippine Stock Exchange needs to get the commitment of other stakeholders of Philippine Dealings System Holdings Corp. before it can complete the planned buyout of the bond market operator, a top official of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.
SEC commissioner Epyhro Luis Amatong said the PSE needed to secure the commitment of two-thirds of PDS stakeholders before it could take control of PDS.
The PSE said Wednesday it secured the commitment of the Bankers Association of the Philippines to sell the latter’s 28.9-percent stake in PDS. Including the PSE’s current 20.1-percent stake in PDS, this would bring the exchange’s stake in the bond operator to only 49 percent.
“That will give them access to roughly 49 percent of PDS and they have to look for 20 percent more,” Amatong said.
Amatong said the planned merger of the PSE and PDS could be completed by the third quarter of the year. He said the PSE was in constant talks with the SEC regarding the merger plan and that the PSE was made aware of the concerns of the corporate regulator regarding the proposal.
Other top shareholders of PDS are San Miguel Corp. and Golden Astra, Singapore Stock Exchange, Tata Consultancy Serves Asia, Computershare Technology Services, The Philippine America Life and General Insurance Co., Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines, Social Security System and Investment House Association of the Philippines.