Philippine tycoon Lucio Tan's bank brings forward property listing

Manila

BILLIONAIRE Lucio Tan's Philippine National Bank (PNB) brought forward its plan to list its property unit, now aiming to float the asset by the end of this year to boost capital.

That puts the listing of PNB Holdings ahead of the original 2023 schedule and will generate about 10 billion pesos (S$263 million) of additional capital, president and chief executive officer (CEO) Wick Veloso said.

"As we continue to aspire for growth, we are going to need capital," Veloso, 56, said. The lender had plans that didn't push through because it was held back by its nonperforming loans, and "we need to resolve our NPL issue first before we can proceed".

The rejigged plans at the firm that was once the country's biggest bank comes as Tan's business portfolio grapples with the aftermath of the pandemic shock that also sent its airline into bankruptcy.

Veloso said he also hopes to increasingly wind back almost 30 billion pesos of remaining provisions that the Tan-owned lender set aside during the Covid-19 crisis. Listing the PNB Holdings unit will help unlock the value of key properties, paving the way for a resumption of the bank's search for a strategic investor to help grow retail lending, he said. BLOOMBERG