Chinatrust to delist shares on Feb 24

MANILA, Philippines - Chinatrust (Philippines) Commercial Bank, the local unit of one of the largest private banks in Taiwan, has obtained regulators’ approval to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange effective Feb. 24.

PSE president Hans Sicat said the delisting is subject to the payment of the required voluntary delisting fee.

Chinatrust requested that its shares be removed from the roster of stocks traded at the PSE due to the bourse’s requirement that all listed companies must maintain a public float of at least 10 percent.

It has set aside P50 million out of its unrestricted retained earnings to buy back shares held by minority shareholders, representing 0.59 percent of outstanding stock. The holders are given the option to sell to the bank their shares at P26.14 apiece.

Chinatrust said it has a strong capital position, allowing it to pursue seamlessly its strategic objectives and deliver enhanced value to its stakeholders and valued clients without being a publicly-listed entity.

Chinatrust Ltd. is one of the 200 biggest banks in the world in terms of capital with assets of over $57 billion at the end of December 2010. It has 140 business offices in Taiwan and networks in Japan, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Canada, the United States and Paraguay.

Its Philippine unit, which was established in 1995, provides financial services to both local and foreign companies in the Philippines, aside from extensively serving the needs of the middle-income consumers. It is also one of the leading players in the local bond markets, dealing in both sovereign and corporate bonds, and is consistently cited as one of the top 10 government securities dealers by the Bureau of Treasury.

Chinatrust entered the consumer finance business in 2002 by acquiring a portfolio from a regional bank that was divesting its consumer business in the country. Since then, the bank’s consumer finance portfolio has grown into the largest and fastest growing in the country.

In the next few years, Chinatrust hopes to build industry-leading franchises in consumer finance, debt capital markets and niche-based corporate banking.