GT Capital to increase stake in Metrobank to 36 percent

April 18, 2017

GT Capital Holdings, Inc. disclosed that it signed Tuesday a memorandum of agreement to acquire, subject to regulatory approvals, 306,000,000 secondary shares of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) held by various Ty family-owned companies for approximately P24.72 billion. The acquisition will increase GT Capital’s stake in Metrobank by 9.622 percent from 26.47 percent to 36.092 percent, the firm said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. In its company website, GT Capital said “light of more stringent Basel III regulations, GT Capital was formed to assume Metrobank’s non-banking businesses and to function as the Ty family’s official holding company.” GT Capital’s companies are Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP), Toyota Manila Bay Corp. (TMBC), Toyota Financial Services Philippines Corp. (TFS), Federal Land, Inc. (Federal Land), Property Company of Friends, Inc. (Pro-Friends), Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation (AXA Philippines), and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC). A separate memorandum of agreement was also signed for the subscription by Grand Titan Capital Holdings, Inc. to 9.5 percent or 18,296,685 primary shares of GT Capital for approximately P21.69 billion. Thus, Grand Titan, which is the majority shareholder of GT Capital, will own 55.93 percent of the conglomerate. GT Capital’s total issued and outstanding shares will increase from 174,300,000 to 192,596,685. Purchase price for the Metrobank shares and the subscription price for the GT Capital shares are based on respective 30-day volume weighted average prices as of the date of execution of the two memoranda of agreement. “There are several advantages to GT Capital’s increased ownership in Metrobank. First of all, it enables GT Capital to benefit from a more balanced income contribution from its investments. This will also be accretive to our earnings per share,” said GF Capital President Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista “Furthermore, the additional Metrobank shares put us at par with our peer conglomerates with respect to the percentage ownership of our banking subsidiaries and affiliates,” said  Bautista. DMS