PSE rules out bidding war with Landbank

The Philippine Stock Exchange is awash with P2.9 billion in cash from an equity deal mostly meant to fund the acquisition of Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. (PDS Group) but it is not likely to engage in a bidding war against state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines.

Ahead of a due-diligence audit on PDS, Landbank has announced an offer of P360 a share of PDS, the holding firm for fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp. and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp. The government bank’s offer is higher than the PSE’s offer of P320 a share.

“I don’t think we should be engaging government in a bidding war,” PSE president Ramon Monzon said in a press briefing after the listing of new shares issued by the PSE on Thursday. He noted, however, that this was only his personal opinion.

His view was shared by PSE chair Jose Pardo, who said the exchange was not considering to raise its offer.

“We really have nothing but the interest of strengthening the capital market and I think the DOF (Department of Finance) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) have the same thing in mind: Growing the economy on a sustainable basis,” Pardo said.

“It’s just that there are pockets of differences sometimes,” he added.