Local Chinatrust bank to delist from PSE

MANILA, Philippines — Chinatrust Commercial Bank (Philippines) Inc. has asked to be delisted from the Philippine Stock Exchange effective February 24 next year, when it would have completed an offer to redeem the shares of minority stockholders.

The bank, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s largest bank, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, has decided to go back to purely private ownership in light of the PSE’s requirement that all listed companies must keep a public float of at least 10 percent of a company’s outstanding  stock to remain in its roster.

Based on the bank’s regulatory filing, it has allocated P50 million out of its unrestricted retained earnings to buy back the tender-offer shares, including the costs, fees and incidental expenses arising from the buy-back.

As of November 30, Chinatrust’s publicly owned shares consisted of 0.59 percent of outstanding stock or 1.47 million common shares.

The holders of these shares are given the option to sell to the bank their shares at P26.14 per share.

ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners will act as the arranger of this tender offer, which will run from Dec. 27 this year to Jan. 27 next year. The shares are intended to be crossed on the PSE on February 3, subject to approval by the local bourse.

“The public offer rules gave the bank the opportunity to evaluate its long-term goals and objectives and align them with those of its parent bank’s other foreign branches and subsidiaries,” Chinatrust president Mark Chen said in the regulatory filing.

By delisting from the PSE, the bank is no longer pursuing plans to become a universal bank despite having earlier obtained authority from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to do so.

An upgrade into universal banking is subject to certain requirements, including having a public float of at least 10 percent.

The bank believes that it has strong capital position and that it can still pursue its strategic objectives without being a publicly listed entity. At the same time, it was happy with a simplified ownership structure and strong parent bank support.