PDIC won’t complete auctionof Export & Industry Bank this year

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) will not be able to complete the auction of shuttered Export and Industry Bank this year, the state agency’s chief said.

“I think, no, we will not be able to do it. It is sequential,” PDIC president Valentin Araneta told reporters on Friday when asked if the second tranche of Exportbank bidding will begin this year.

The second part of the process, which involves the bidding of the commercial bank license, could not push through without the completion of the first tranche which targets to auction out Exportbank’s assets and liabilities worth P36 billion.

PDIC earlier targeted to finish the whole bidding process this year but that it is now uncertain if it will be able to do so after the supposed rehabilitation of Exportbank was challenged before the courts.

The first bidding held last Oct. 18 was declared a failure after pre-qualified third party investors did not submit formal bids after being informed of a court order halting the process. The 72-hour hold order has since been lifted but the case is yet to be resolved.

The case was filed by Forum Holdings Corp., East Asia Oil Co. Inc., Pacific Rehouse Corp., Pacific Concorde Corp. and Mizpah Holdings, Inc. before the Makati Regional Trial Court, which had also denied their plea for injunction.

PDIC executive vice president Cristina Orbeta, in a text message, said the agency is “still reassessing the timeline” of the bidding. She did not provide details.

Asked on the status of the first tranche, Araneta said PDIC is “working on it” and that it would re-open the auction “this year.” Those investors that pre-qualified for bidding earlier could still submit their bids, he added.