Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) said it has completed the sale of its remaining interest in PETNET, Inc. to City Savings Bank, Inc. and Union Properties, Inc. (UPI).
The sale consolidates AEV's interests in banking and financial services under Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank).
UnionBank owns 99.77 percent of CitySavings and 100 percent of UPI. UnionBank is 49-percent owned by AEV as of September 30, 2018.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday, December 18, AEV said it completed the sale of its 51-percent ownership interest in PETNET, a transaction center that offers financial services such as Western Union international and domestic remittance, money changing, bills payment, e-loading, DepEd loans and GSIS pension loan acceptance and micro-insurance.
AEV executed a share purchase agreement with City Savings and UPI on February 9, 2018. The transaction was approved by the Philippine Competition Commission on May 8, 2018.
AEV said it received notice on December 12, 2018 that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved City Savings equity investment in PETNET. The central bank approved the transaction on November 23, 2018.
"All conditions precedent having been completed, the parties closed the transaction on December 17, 2018," AEV said.
"The sale and the resulting consolidation of all of AEV’s existing interests in banking and financial services will unlock shareholder value from the synergies between the core businesses of CitySavings and PETNET," the disclosure added.
PETNET has over 2,500 locations nationwide. (Ventures Cebu)