Land Bank of the Philippines proposed to acquire a 66.67% stake in Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp., or PDS Holdings, at 360 Philippine pesos per share, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported March 1, citing the bank's president and CEO, Alex Buenaventura.
Buenaventura's comments came after the state-run bank said in late January that it was carrying out due diligence on PDS Holdings after receiving approval from its board to proceed with the proposed acquisition. The CEO said the proposed acquisition is designed to increase the bank's profits as well as accelerating the development of the country's capital markets.
PDS Holdings operates bond and foreign-exchange trading platforms in the Philippines.
Land Bank of the Philippines owns a 1.56% stake in PDS Holdings through the Bankers Association of the Philippines. The bank's plan to acquire PDS Holdings pits it against Philippine Stock Exchange Inc., which has been trying to acquire PDS Holdings since 2013.
As of Feb. 28, US$1 was equivalent to 52.08 Philippine pesos.
