Thrift bank goes public, eyes expansion

A THRIFT bank is expecting to raise P3.19 billion from proceeds of its offering of bank shares this February to fund the bank’s expansion program this year.

The bank would open 20 more branches across the country this year targeting areas and cities with a strong small, medium enterprises base, said Roland Avante, Philippine Business Bank (PBB) president yesterday.

“The SME is our niche market and represents the largest chunk of the bank’s loans at 62 percent,” said Avante.

Avante added that SME is a segment that is relatively underserved despite the fact that these have assets between P3 million to P100 million. In the Philippines, 32 percent of employment and 25 percent of export revenues are contributed by the SMEs.

PBB officials and representatives of First Metro Investment Corporation and SB Capital Investment Corporation–the bank’s Joint Lead Underwriters– met with potential investors for its initial public offering last February 6 at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.

The pricing of the shares at P31.50 IPO per share is based on the 2013 book value and is expected to generate a total of P3.19 billion gross offer proceeds to PBB. The bank is offering about 20 percent of its shares to the public.

PBB, which was established 15 years ago, has 80 branches across the country./Contributor Anabelle Lim-Balanzar