PDS shareholders agree to sell to Land Bank
State-run Land Bank of the Philippines is confident that it will secure a majority stake in the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS Group) after the latter’s shareholders agreed in principle to sell their shares to the governmentowned lender.
Alex V. Buenaventura, Land Bank president and chief executive said yesterday that 43 percent of PDS shareholders have already agreed to begin their formal negations for the government’s planned acquisition of the country’s fixed-income exchange.
“Forty-three percent of PDSHC owners have given us their acceptance letter with NDA [non-disclosure agreement] and now we just need to finalize the share purchase agreement (SPA),” Buenaventura said in a mobile phone message.
The Land Bank chief is hopeful that they could seal the SPAs with the shareholders before the end of this week.
Asked if the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSA) is among the 43 percent shareholders that have already agreed to sell their stake in PDS, Buenaventura said “please do not mention any seller because we have signed a mutual NDA.”
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III had hit the PSE over the bourse’s perceived footdragging in finalizing the sale of its stake in the PDS Group.
According to the government’s chief economic manager, the PSE’s conditions “keep on changing” despite efforts of the Land Bank to close the deal as soon as possible.
“I’m really at a loss,” Dominguez said. “It’s simple, you want to sell or not, that’s the only question don’t give me other conditions.”
While the negotiations for the sale of PSE’s 20.98 percent shareholding in PDS are ongoing, Dominguez disclosed that the bourse wanted other minority shareholders to be involved in their share-purchase agreement.
In April, the PSE abandoned its plan to take control of the country’s fixed-income exchange after its timetable to close purchase agreements with key PDS shareholders lapsed last March 31.
Lank Bank made an offer in April to all shareholders of PDS to buy 4.167 million common shares in the bond exchange — equivalent to a 66.67 percent stake — worth R1.5 billion. The offer period lapsed last May 20.