MANILA, Philippines – Retail magnate Lucio Co-led Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) signed a deal to sell its rural bank arm to Producers Savings Bank, a stand-alone thrift bank which has been gobbling up a string of smaller players.
PBCom agreed to sell its 99.98 percent stake in PBCom Rural Bank for P555.8 million, the bank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
“The move was meant to consolidate the efforts and resources at PBCom level which has set as its strategy to focus on its core businesses and expand market to the ecosystem of its principals,” the bank said.
PBCom earlier reported a first quarter 2019 net income of P382.6M, a 116-percent increase year-on-year, as a result of strong interest and non-interest income.
Producers Bank is a small and medium enterprise (SME) focused bank which has been a consolidator of rural banks.
It has previously merged with the following rural banks: Rural Bank of Pamplona (Camarines Sur) Inc., Rural Bank of President Quirino (Sultan Kudarat) Inc., Bangko Rural ng Pasacao (Camarines Sur) Inc., Bangko Rural ng Magarao (Camarines Sur) Inc., Rural Bank of San Fernando (Camarines Sur) Inc., Rural Bank of Barotac Nuevo Inc. and Rural Bank of Sibalom (Antique) Inc. /gsg