The Union Bank of the Philippines is set to acquire the combined stake of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) and its subsidiary Pilmico Foods Corp. (PFC) in a Cebu-based thrift bank for P5.7 billion.

AEV said in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that its board has approved the proposed offer from Union Bank to purchase all of its shares in City Savings Bank Inc., a Cebu-based thrift bank.

AEV, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, PFC, owns 99.54 percent of CitySavings’ issued and outstanding capital stock.

Specifically, AEV owns 116,262 shares in CitySavings, or 59.54 percent of the thrift bank’s total issued and outstanding shares, while PFC owns 78,109 CitySavings shares consisting of 40 percent of the thrift bank’s equity. Other nonrelated individual shareholders own the remaining 0.46 percent of CitySavings’ equity.

AEV was also advised by its subsidiary, PFC, that its board has accepted the offer of UnionBank to acquire the remaining 40 percent shareholdings in CitySavings held by PFC.

The combined purchase of AEV’s and PFC’s CitySavings shares, which will be in cash, will be computed at 2.5 times the thrift bank’s audited book value as of December 31, 2012, subject to the results of the due diligence review. The total acquisition value is some P5.7 billion.

AEV currently owns 44.82 percent of UnionBank’s total issued and outstanding capital stock and will have a resulting beneficial or attributable interest of 44.61 percent in CitySavings’ equity, in the post share acquisition by Union Bank.

The planned share acquisition, however, is still subject to Monetary Board approvals from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“The CitySavings shares acquisition by UnionBank is subject to a due diligence review and the foregoing regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to be consummated upon the issuance of the relevant regulatory approvals,” the company disclosure said.