Landbank biding time in PDS buyout

Land Bank of the Philippines has given Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS) shareholders more time to decide before the state-run lender acquires their shares and gains control of the bond exchange.

“We are taking into serious consideration the proposed amendments and extension requests we’ve received from various stakeholders. We are carefully evaluating the recommendations to help determine our next steps,” Landbank president and chief executive Cecilia C. Borromeo said in a text message Friday.

Former Landbank chief Alex V. Buenaventura has extended, for the second time, to March 15 the deadline to buy PDS shares at P215 per share.

The original deadline was Dec. 31 last year, then moved to Jan. 31 this year.

Borromeo did not elaborate on the details, citing that Landbank was bound by a confidentiality agreement with the parties involved.

To recall, Landbank in October last year downgraded its offer from P360 a share previously. The new offer had taken into account the P600 million in dividends that PDS issued to shareholders last June, which reduced PDS’s asset value.

The share price nonetheless remained a multiplier of 1.5 times adjusted net asset value or the same as the previous offer.

During the initial offer in March last year, only 43 percent of shareholders submitted acceptance letters.

At present, Landbank owns 1.56 percent of PDS through the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP).

Landbank’s plan to acquire a majority stake in PDS runs counter to the latter’s planned but long-delayed merger with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The PSE had rejected Landbank’s offer to buy its stake in the capital market infrastructure provider PDS, as it found Landbank’s offer of P281.96 million for its 20-percent stake “too low.”