GT Capital raises stake in Metrobank

Conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. will increase its stake in banking arm Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. to 36.092 percent by buying the 9.622-percent stake held by various Ty-owned companies for P24.72 billion.

But the Tys will consolidate control of the business group at the GT Capital level with a separate deal to acquire 9.5 percent of GT Capital’s primary shares for P21.69 billion.

The acquisition will be made through the Tys’ privately held holding firm Grand Titan Capital Holdings Inc., which will in turn own 55.93 percent of the listed conglomerate.

The first deal valued Metrobank’s shares at around P80.78 each while the second deal valued GT Capital’s shares at around P1,185 each. The memoranda of agreement had been separately signed for these transactions, based on a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The disclosure said the purchase price for the Metrobank shares and the subscription price for the GT Capital shares were both based on their respective 30-day volume weighted average prices as of the date of execution of the two memoranda of agreement.

“There are several advantages to GT Capital’s increased ownership in Metrobank. First of all, it enables GT Capital to benefit from a more balanced income contribution from its investments. This will also be accretive to our earnings per share. Furthermore, the additional Metrobank shares put us at par with our peer conglomerates with respect to the percentage ownership of our banking subsidiaries and affiliates,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a press statement.

For its part, GT Capital’s total issued and outstanding shares will increase from 174.3 million to around 192.6 million after the fresh capital infusion from Grand Titan.

In a special stockholders’ meeting held on Oct. 2012, GT Capital shareholders waived their preemptive rights to new shares to be issued by the conglomerate.

GT Capital has interests in market-leading businesses across banking, automotive assembly, importation, dealership, and financing, property development, life and non-life insurance, and infrastructure. Apart from Metrobank, other business units include Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., Toyota Manila Bay Corp., Toyota Financial Services Philippines Corp., Federal Land Inc., Property Company of Friends Inc. (Pro-Friends) and Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp. It is also the second largest stockholder in infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA