BPI APPROVES MERGER WITH ROBINSONS BANK; CASH DIVIDEND

THE board of directors of Ayalaled Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has approved the merger with Robinsons Bank Corp. (RBC) of the Gokongwei family.

This development came following BPI board’s regular meeting on November 17.

BPI and RBC confirmed their merger agreement last September, and announced their intent to complete the process before the end of 2023.

The merger, with BPI as the surviving entity, will have RBC shareholders Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. and JG Capital collectively holding about 6 percent of the outstanding capital stock of BPI.

During the meeting, the board also approved the increase in the bank’s authorized capital stock by P4 billion to P54.6 billion, which will be divided into 5.4 million common shares and 60 million preferred shares.

It also allowed the allocation of authorized common shares for the executive stock option plan and the stock purchase plan into a 3-percent allocation for all employee stock incentive plans.

The board also approved the declaration of cash dividend of P1.06 per share, for the second semester of the year 2022, on the total outstanding common shares of the capital stock of BPI.

BPI’s net income in the first nine months of the year surged over 74 percent to P30.5 billion due to gains on the sale of property, tax adjustments and foreign exchange. The bank’s total revenues as of end-September rose 22.1 percent to P87.5 billion.