PLDT to Sell Telecom Towers to International Investors in $1.5 Billion Deal
April 19 2022 - 1:33AM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Otto
Units of PLDT Inc., the Philippines' largest integrated
telecommunications company, will sell thousands of telecom towers
in a $1.5 billion deal that represents the largest ever acquisition
of assets in the Southeast Asian country by international
investors.
PLDT said Tuesday that two of its subsidiaries had signed sale
and purchase deals to sell 5,907 telecom towers and related
infrastructure on the islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao for 77
billion Philippine pesos ($1.47 billion).
The winning bidders include a unit of edotco Group Sdn Bhd. and
a unit of EdgePoint, PLDT said. The companies will become the
largest common tower operators in the populous archipelago
nation.
Edotco is a unit of Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd. and manages
more than 54,000 towers in nine Asia countries, while EdgePoint is
backed by New York-listed investment firm DigitalBridge Group Inc.
and owns about 10,000 towers in Indonesia and Malaysia, PLDT
said.
The sellers in the deal are PLDT units Smart Communications Inc.
and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. Smart Communications also
signed a deal to lease back all of the towers sold for 10 years and
has committed to building 1,500 towers in the coming years.
PLDT said the deal, expected to fully close in the fourth
quarter, will result in a significant gain on disposal.
"This partnership with experienced international tower companies
represents another milestone in PLDT's strategic transformation,"
said company Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. "We expect to reap
benefits in terms of a valuation uplift and capital reallocation
with PLDT applying the proceeds to deleverage, further invest in
the network, and return cash to shareholders via a special
dividend."
UBS acted as a financial adviser to PLDT and Smart
Communications in the deal.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 19, 2022 01:18 ET (05:18 GMT)
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