BAP, PSE firming up PDS Group structure

The Bankers Association of the Philippines is firming up with the Philippine Stock Exchange the structure of a unified local capital market infrastructure platform, which will become the latter’s subsidiary.

BAP president Lorenzo Tan told reporters on Friday that whether or not the PSE would obtain 67 percent of Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. (PDS Group) after launching a general offer, the transaction would proceed.

During the special stockholders’ meeting of the Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. (PDS Group) on Thursday, minority investors were briefed on the rationale for the transaction and the P2.25-billion pricing for 100 percent of PDS Group, the holding firm for fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp. (PDTC) and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp.

“We said we’re doing this for national interest. We want a common platform so when the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) gates open, we want to be efficient. If you look at Singapore, which is probably the benchmark, it has a single platform for everything,” Tan said.

During last week’s meeting, Tan said the PSE confirmed that it had control of about 54 percent of PDS Group.

The local bourse earlier signed a deal to buy the 28.91-percent stake held by the BAP and some member-banks, hiking its interest to nearly 50 percent. It afterwards launched a general offer to other shareholders of PDS.

Recently, San Miguel Corp. agreed to sell its four-percent interest, giving the PSE its current 54-percent stake.

“What will happen is whether it’s 54 or 67 percent, we can still continue so it becomes a subsidiary…We’re not dissolving PDS. It will become a subsidiary,” Tan said. Doris C. Dumlao

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