MB okays sale of Solidbank shares

The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), approved last Friday the transfer of ownership of 51 percent of Solidbank shares to the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) with the condition that a merger be effected within the next six months, Metrobank president Antonio Abacan and Solidbank president Deogracias N. Vistan said over the weekend.

At the same time, the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) submitted late last Friday a notice to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrawing its case for an injunction to prevent the sale of the Madrigal shares in Solidbank to the Metrobank Group.

"Given that the Madrigal shares were crossed to Metrobank on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Friday, our plea for an injunction on such sale is now pointless," Robin Hibberd, Scotiabank head for Asia-Pacific region, said.

But even with the withdrawal, Hibberd said Scotiabank reserves its right "to take future action to protect the value of our Solidbank investment."

In a press statement, Hibberd said "Scotiabank continues to maintain that their shareholders agreement with the Madrigals was drafted to deal only with their shareholdings and those of the Madrigals."

"We are disappointed that the technical delays raised by opposing counsel prevented us from having the SEC rule on the merits of our case. The fact remains that the Madrigals were insisting that we exercise our right of first refusal over the shares of third parties. This is a clear violation of the agreement on our view."

The Metrobank Group bought a block of 11,787,972 shares equivalent to a majority or 51 percent of Solidbank from the Madrigal, Meer and Lim families for P573.50 per share, totaling approximately P6.766 billion.

The sale was crossed at the Philippine Dealing System shortly before the close of trading last Friday, with top broker ING-Barings and Multi-Grande Securities handling the transactions.

Scotiabank remains to hold 40 percent of Solibank and the remaining nine percent by other minor stockholders.