Philippine Business Bank said on Friday that the subscription to 125 million shares that were privately placed last year with the bank’s principal shareholders have been completed, setting up the second part of a plan to raise its authorized capital by P1.75 billion and increase lending activity.
PBB, majority owned by businessman Alfredo Yao and his beverage company Zest-O Corp., last July approved the increase in its authorized capital to P15 billion from P10 billion. It planned to sell a total 175 million shares at P10 each via a combination of private placement and stock rights offering.
Mr. Yao and Zest-O initially paid in September P312.5 million. The balance of P937.5 was paid on January 10 and booked as deposit for future subscription, PBB said.
The bank is still awaiting the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the capital hike. “We hereby confirm that the SRO and the Private Placement will be treated as separate transactions and will run independently of each other. Please note though that if the bank opts to pursue the initial plan to source the SRO shares from the increase in authorized capital stock, then the increase in ACS which is supported by the PP subscriptions would have to be approved by the SEC before SRO launch, PBB disclosed to the stock exchange on Friday.
PBB reported a 15.2 percent year-on-year growth in nine months net income to P926.6 million.
