Export Bank board okays BDO takeover proposal

Sy unit to acquire core banking assets

By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Close this THE BOARD OF EXPORT AND INDUSTRY BANK has agreed to execute a deal allowing tycoon Henry Sy’s Banco de Oro Unibank to take over selected assets and liabilities of the bank.

The Export Bank board approved in a meeting Thursday afternoon a resolution authorizing bank chair Jaime Gonzales and president Juan Victor Tanjuatco to “finalize and execute the sale ... subject to final regulatory approvals.”

A disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange did not identify who will buy the assets and liabilities but other sources confirmed that BDO, as earlier reported, would acquire the core banking assets of EIB.

Industry sources said the terms of the BDO takeover had been drawn up but would still be subject to approval by the board of the country’s largest bank.

But the structure of the deal will no longer be through the sale of shares as considered during the earlier stages of the BDO-Export Bank negotiations. Instead, BDO will buy selected assets and assume about P30 billion in liabilities, including about P20 billion in deposits and about P9 billion in outstanding loans to the state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

A banking source privy to the negotiations said the method of acquisition would be easier to execute given that Export Bank would carve out certain assets that it could sell to other parties in the future. As of end-June, the bank had about P32 billion in total assets, but some of these will not be included in the deal with BDO. Read More...