Alfredo Yao. PHOTO BY LYN RILLON
Business tycoon Alfredo Yao’s Philippine Business Bank (PBB) infused more capital in the lender ahead of its stock rights offering.
The bank’s principal shareholders subscribed to P1.25 billion of the P5 billion capital increase, which was approved by the PBB board of directors and stockholders, a regulatory filing showed.
The bank’s major shareholders also deposited P312.5 million, meeting the minimum paid-up capital requirement for the capital raise. The payment was lodged under “deposit for future stock subscription.”
“The principal shareholders are advancing their participation to the stock rights offering by subscribing to the increase in authorized capital stock,” PBB said.
The bank’s major owners are Yao and his flagship beverage company, Zest-O Corp., a recent stock exchange filing showed.
The board, last Aug. 17, approved a P1.75-billion rights offer involving 175 million shares at P10 each. It said proceeds from the offer would be used for expansion and to support the capital increase.
A rights offer is a type of fundraising exercise open to existing stockholders and is typically backed by the company’s controlling shareholders and deal underwriters. PBB, which has yet to finalize the timeline for the transaction, earlier set the offer entitlement ratio at one rights share for every 3.68 shares owned. “The proceeds from the offer will be used primarily to increase PBB’s capital to comply with minimum capital requirement for a universal bank license and for other general corporate purposes including but not limited to investments, loans, maintenance [capital spending], operating expenses and other opportunities,” PBB said in an earlier stock exchange filing.
The offer still requires the approval of regulators, it added. “Proceeds from the offer will be used to increase the bank’s capitalization which will greatly expand the bank’s capability to develop more businesses and harness opportunities in the financial services space,” PBB said.
“The increase will also enable PBB to meet the growing demands of the banking business and positions the bank to exploit opportunities as the economy rebounds,” it added.