San Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI) and San Miguel Corporation Retirement Plan are eyeing to close their acquisition of a combined 51-percent stake in Bank of Commerce (BoC) by November 2009.

In a letter to the stock exchange, SMPI said they have yet to infuse an additional equity of P2 billion in BoC to formally take majority control of the bank.

The additional subscription of the two units of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. will boost their aggregate stake in BoC from 34.3 percent to 51 percent.

"The closing of the transaction and payment of the subscription price for the sale share are subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including the issuance of applicable government approvals," it said.

SMPI noted that the conditions are targeted for completion by November 15, 2009, unless extended by the parties.

The new investment will bring the San Miguel group's total investment in BoC to P4 billion, which in turn, will raise the bank's total capital accounts to approximately P10.42 billion.

Earlier, BoC reported an after-tax income of P524.4 million for January to August, up 48.6 percent year-on-year. Its total deposits rose 33.7 percent to P72.5 billion during the period while its gross loan portfolio increased by 51.4 percent to P40.7 billion.

The bank said its non-performing loan ratio fell to 4.2 from 8.7 percent in 2007 as bad loans were cut by 40 percent.