BIZ BUZZ: How STI bagged PSBA

Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA) will soon be under the Tanco family-led STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. For those wondering whether PSBA will be renamed STI, we hear that the branding of the 61-year-old business school, which has campuses in Manila and Quezon City, will be preserved.

READ: STI Education Systems to buy PSBA

From what we gather, the opportunity for STI to take over PSBA came about as a squabble had erupted among the families that own the school. PSBA had no choice but to look for a white knight as it was hounded by a string of operational problems—costly bank debt and overhead. It even had difficulty paying for the retirement benefits of staff, well-placed sources told Biz Buzz.

Thus came businessman Eusebio “Yosi” Tanco, who is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions in the education space. With more and more Filipinos wanting to pursue entrepreneurship than remain as salaried employees, STI sees robust demand for business, accounting, entrepreneurship and related courses, especially in the metropolis.

STI, which has established itself as a formidable player in the IT education space, intends to inject new technology into PSBA and tie up with a big accounting review school as it seeks to cement its position as the largest operator of a private school network in the country. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Ex-Citi exec joins UnionBank

The Aboitiz family’s Union Bank of the Philippines is welcoming another former Citibank Philippines executive into its senior ranks.

It announced that Mukul Sukhani was hired as executive vice president in charge of cards and loans under the fast-growing consumer banking segment.

Before joining UnionBank, Sukhani was the senior vice president of business development as Mastercard in Nepal and India.

He is no stranger to the expatriate life in the Philippines, having been director leading credit cards and personal loans at Citi Philippines from 2018 up to the 2021 UnionBank takeover.

The P72-billion acquisition was finalized a year later, allowing UnionBank to make a huge leap in its business expansion.

At the same time, absorbing the accumulated talent from ex-Citibankers is clearly part of its growth strategy. Observers are keenly watching how this move will bolster UnionBank’s competitive edge against its rivals moving forward. —Miguel R. Camus INQ