HK-listed firm to buy 26.8% of Cabangon-led CityState
A Hong Kong-listed holding firm is set to acquire a significant stake in CityState Savings Bank Inc. via a P735.9-million share purchase deal, valuing the Cabangon-led bank at around P2.75 billion.
In a stock exchange filing on Monday, CityState said CSC Holdings Ltd., through subsidiary CS Capital Investment Pte. Ltd., had entered into a share purchase agreement with “certain stockholders of the bank.”
Incorporated in Singapore, CS Capital will buy a 26.8-percent stake in CityState. This is equivalent to 42.36 million shares at P16.97 each, CSC’s filing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed. The price is 90 percent higher than CityState’s closing price of P8.94 on Monday.
Following the news, the bank’s share price soared by 50 percent. The transaction is still subject to closing conditions, including the approval of the Monetary Board, the highest policymaking body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
“The acquisition is a strategic investment of the company and represents the company’s first step to implement [its] financial business investment strategy,” CSC said in its disclosure to the HKEX. “It also represents the effort of the group to enter into the mainstream financial business world and lays out the business map for the group in Southeast Asia, which has a great development potential,” it added.
Toward digitalization
CSC has interests in security and bond investment, loan financing, trading of metal minerals and securities brokerage, according to its website.
CityState said it would benefit from CSC’s “global experience, market reach and technological resources” in line with its digitalization goal.
CityState currently has 34 branches and 40 automated teller machines across the country. Its earnings in the first semester surged by 86.22 percent to P10 million as its lending portfolio grew.
Net interest income expanded by 25.14 percent to P193 million on higher returns from auto payroll deduction system loans for teachers, CityState’s financial filing showed. Assets stood at P6.3 billion from P5.65 billion.
