PSE expects deal for BAP’s stake in PDS to be completed by May

By Keith Richard D. Mariano with Krista Angela M. Montealegre
Posted on March 10, 2017
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=PSE-expects-deal-for-BAP%E2%80%99s-stake-in-PDS-to-be-completed-by-May&id=141962

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, the operator of the country’s lone stock exchange disclosed its commitment with its fellow shareholder in PDS to execute an amended share purchase agreement not later than May 31.

“From the public side of the deal, it’s the first part,” PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat told BusinessWorld during the launch of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2017 in Makati City on Thursday.

“We need to get to a total of 67% [of the common shares of stock in PDS]. I think we’ll get there, too, given all the discussion,” Mr. Sicat noted.

The PSE and the BAP signed a term sheet on Wednesday for the stock exchange’s acquisition of the latter’s 28.91% stake in the company that owns the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp. and the Philippine Depository Corp., the country’s sole depository for equities and fixed-income securities.

Mr. Sicat declined to detail the initial agreement between the PSE and the BAP, which paves the way for the equities bourse to increase its shareholding in PDS to 49.89% from 20.98% currently.

“We have to talk to the other stakeholders now that we have a fixed commercial deal [with the BAP]. We continue to talk to the SEC for the final submission. We have to make a formal submission also to the PCC (Philippine Competition Commission),” Mr. Sicat said.

The PSE looks to finalize deals with other PDS shareholders by the middle of the year and complete the merger within the third quarter.

Mr. Sicat expects the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow the merger this time, with the PSE having actively engaged the corporate regulator since reviving its bid to take over PDS in August 2016.

The PSE began negotiations to buy out other PDS shareholders as early as 2013.

In March 2016, however, the SEC rejected the bourse’s application for exemptive relief from the 20% limit set by Republic Act No. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code, for any business group in owning the controller of an exchange.

As a result, the PSE failed to consummate its share purchase agr