PBB sets IPO price at P31.50

MANILA, Philippines - Thrift lender Philippine Business Bank (PBB) has finalized the selling price for its shares, with an expected P3.19 billion to be raised from its initial public offering (IPO).

“First Metro Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp., the joint lead underwriters and bookrunners, informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that the final offer price of the bank’s IPO is P31.50 per share, amounting to a total issue size of approximately P3.19 billion,” PBB said in a disclosure.

PBB cut the selling price from the maximum offer price of P41.94 announced earlier, which was seen to raise P4.249 billion in capital for the company.

The offer period for the 101.333 million common shares is on Feb. 6-12, PBB said. Tentative listing date is on Feb. 19.

Fresh capital from the first IPO in the country this year will allow the bank to strengthen its foothoold in the small and medium enterprise sector.

PBB plans to put up 22 new branches to reach a total 100 branches at the end of the year.

As of end-September last year, PBB is the fifth largest thrift bank in the Philippines with P29.7 billion in assets last year.

PBB, which ended last year with 78 branches of which 41 are located in Metro Manila, posted P624.10 million in earnings in the nine months to September from P549 million a year earlier.

PBB plans to grow its asset base aggressively, focusing on loan growth, expand consumer loan portfolio through expanded branch network and improve the use of the funds through the trading business particularly in low loan demand period.

From its first branch in 1997, PBB has established 15 branches in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces in two years of operations.

The bank is majority owned by the Yao family, which also owns juice drinks firm Zest-O and budget carrier ZestAir.