Asia United Bank plans P11B IPO

The Rebisco group’s commercial banking arm Asia United Bank has sought regulatory approvals to debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange and sell as much as P11.31 billion worth of shares.

Just in time for the bank’s initial public offering (IPO) plan, AUB has also obtained approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to upgrade its commercial banking license to universal banking from regular commercial banking. A unibank license will give the bank the authority to expand its businesses to non-allied undertakings but also requires a minimum public ownership of 10 percent, which the planned IPO will address.

Based on its registration statement filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 28, AUB plans to sell 102.86 million primary common shares for as much as P110 each. The offering will bring to public hands about 30 percent of the bank’s post-IPO capitalization.

The documents named UBS AG Hong Kong branch and Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd. as the joint bookrunners and joint lead managers for the offering. Mandated as sole global coordinator is UBS AG.

The stated offering size of about $275 million in the registration statement is much bigger than the $150-million IPO originally mulled by the bank. It is also much bigger than the P5.5 billion in estimated net proceeds outlined by the registration statement.

In its registration statement, AUB said it would use the net proceeds from the offering for: acquisitions/payments for branch licenses (P1 billion); expansion of branch network (P1 billion); information technology projects (P650 million); and general corporate purposes (P2.85 billion).—Doris C. Dumlao