THE Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) on Wednesday said it now owns 69.03 percent of PDS Holdings Inc. after the equites market operator was able to purchase the stake from Tata Consultancy Services Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.
In its disclosure, the PSE said Tata Consultancy has agreed to sell its 500,000 common shares, or about 8-percent ownership in PDS—short for Philippine Dealing System—the firm that operates Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.
The PSE said “a one-time payment arrangement at a discounted price was agreed upon, with TCS given its status as a nonresident foreign corporation.” It bought the shares from Tata Consultancy for P152.11 million.
The PSE, which previously owned 20.98 percent in PDS, has been asking for the owners of the PDS since June to again sign an agreement to sell their respective stake in the operator for the fixed-income exchange.
Those firms that agreed to sell its stake include the Bankers Association of the Philippines, which has a 23.84-percent stake in PDS; Whistler Technologies Services Inc. at 8 percent; The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. and San Miguel Corp. both at 4 percent; Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines Research and Development Foundation, 3.08 percent; and Investment House Association of the Philippines, 1.12 percent.
The PSE is still hoping to get the nod of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its plan to merge with the PDS Holdings.
At the same time, the equities market operator is also rushing to comply with the ownership cap of stock brokers to get the nod of the SEC.
The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) in late-November has approved PSE’s proposed merger with the PDS.
The PCC’s approval, however, focused on the so-called efficiencies when the the equities and fixed-income exchanges are owned by a single entity.
The SEC’s approval, on the other hand, will focus, among others, on PSE’s request for exemptive relief on the 20-percent industry ownership limit and, in this case, the stock brokers’.
The PSE already filed a registration statement with the SEC for its stock-rights offering of 11.5 million shares, aimed at diluting the combined ownership of brokers to pull it down to 20 percent, from the current 23 percent.