Allied Bank to sell 27.8% stake in Oceanic Bank to First National Bank

MANILA, Philippines — The trustee of Allied Bank’s 27.8 percent stake in the San Francisco-based Oceanic Bank has struck a deal to sell this bloc to the parent company of the First National Bank of Northern California.

This divestment deal fulfills Allied Bank’s commitment to the US Federal Reserve to unload its minority stake in the US bank upon its merger with Philippine National Bank.

The upcoming merger, which had been approved by the shareholders of both banks, is now awaiting approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and targeted to be executed within this first semester of 2012.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the Allied Bank reported that its trustee had entered into a definite agreement with FNB Bancorp., the parent company of First National Bank, to sell to the latter all of its shares in Oceanic Bank Holdings.  This sale is expected to close during the third quarter of this year.

Oceanic Bank, a niche banking player in the US, has been operating for over 30 years in two offices in San Francisco and one office on the island of Guam.

The US Fed approved in October last year a voting trust agreement, which would allow Allied Bank to place shares of Oceanic Holdings in a temporary trust. The independent trustee was in charge of voting the shares of Oceanic and arranging for the sale of the shares to an unrelated third party or parties acceptable to the Federal Reserve Board.

In a separate disclosure, PNB said it had submitted to the BSP and PDIC the application to merger with Allied Bank, with PNB as the surviving entity.

After the PNB-Allied Bank merger, the combined entity is expected to fortify its position as the fourth largest privately owned domestic bank in terms of total assets. It will also have the most extensive distribution network with the largest international presence among local banks.