Chinatrust PH trading suspended 3 days before delisting

MANILA, Philippines—Trading on shares of Chinatrust (Philippines) Commercial Bank Corp. will be suspended starting Feb. 21, three days ahead of the bank’s exit from the roster of companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

As earlier announced, the bank’s voluntary delisting from the PSE will take effect on Feb. 24 but trading on its shares will be suspended three days before, the PSE announced on Tuesday.

The three-day trading suspension ahead of the delisting seeks to “ensure settlement of all transactions prior to the effective date of delisting,” a PSE memorandum said.

Chinatrust recently completed an offer to redeem bulk of the shares of minority investors.

The bank, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s largest bank Chinatrust Commercial Bank, has decided to go back to private hands as a consequence of the PSE’s requirement for all listed companies to widen their public float to at least 10 percent to remain in its roster.

“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 had said in the bank’s 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 from a commercial bank 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.