BPI acquires Prudential Bank

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) finalized early yesterday evening the purchase of Prudential Bank’s 80 to 100 percent stake under a tender offer at a price of P746.43 per share.

BPI chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said the purchase would further enhance the operations of BPI with an increased and widened network.

"We are delighted with this latest acquisition of Prudential Bank because of the complementation it brings and the opportunities for growth that it provides," he added. BPI has 707 branches and 1,300 ATMs while Prudential Bank has 187 branches and 52 ATMs.

He assured the former owners, the Santos family of Prudential Bank, that BPI would do its utmost to improve the institution. "We look forward to further enhancing its value."

However, the universal bank of the Ayala Group remained uncommitted as to whether and when Prudential Bank would be absorbed into BPI.

The sell-down will remove the financial burden from the Santos family to put in new money to improve Prudential Bank’s capitalization which has been under close scrutiny from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

It has been closely scrutinizing the financial standing of the bank, which the examiners found to be peppered with DOSRI (directors, officers, stockholders and other related interests). — Ted Torres