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Union
Bank of Switzerland AG or UBS has bought into the
Philippine National Bank, the Swiss investment bank said
in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on
Wednesday.
In a
letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, UBS
said that it confirmed with regulators it bought more
than 5 percent—or a total 33,171,180 shares—in
shareholding in PNB as of August 31.
The
Securities and Regulation Code provides that owners of a
company exceeding 5 percent should disclose that
ownership 10 days after such acquisition.
Based on
the disclosure, UBS undertook 19 times of buying within
10 days beginning June 18 of 4.65 million shares at P59
a share and ended August 31 with a purchase of 130,000
shares at P46.73 a share.
PNB has
662.246 million outstanding shares.
UBS AG
said its investments in PNB now amounted to nearly P1.8
billion. It joined five British-owned corporate
stockholders who combine for 28.573-percent equity in
the bank which is controlled by businessman Lucio Tan.
Two
years ago, the monetary board approved the application
of UBS, a bank organized under the laws of
Switzerland,
to establish a representative office in the
Philippines.
Lauro
Baja III, UBS (Philippines)
chief representative, declined to comment on the sale
citing “it’s an asset management issue.”
Baja
told BusinessMirror in a phone interview that UBS
officials overseas should be the ones to explain the
implications of the purchase. The disclosure was
addressed in Hong Kong.
BusinessMirror also tried to get a reaction from PNB
president Oscar Byron T. Mier but was told repeatedly
he’s in a meeting.
Headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, UBS is a
wealth management, investment banking, securities firm,
asset manager, and also does retail and commercial
banking in Switzerland.
On
August 1 the PNB sold an additional 160.81 million
shares, nearly 11 percent of which represented those
owned by the government.
After
the sale, Mier told reporters they are focused on their
merger with Allied Bank that is pending on a decision
from the Supreme Court. |
