San Miguel - PLDT-Globe deal enough to recoup telecoms investment

By Enrico Dela Cruz

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp's (SMC.PS) $1.5 billion sale of assets to the country's two main telecoms players was just enough to recoup the food-to-power group's investment in a six-year attempt to build a presence in the telecoms industry, its president said on Tuesday.

San Miguel agreed to sell the assets, including prized 700 megahertz spectrum, to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) (TEL.PS) and Globe Telecom Inc (GLO.PS) for 69.1 billion pesos ($1.5 billion) in a deal announced on Monday.

The sale came two months after talks on a possible joint venture with Australia's Telstra Corp Ltd (TLS.AX) collapsed.

Letting go of the telecoms assets was a "difficult" but necessary move, San Miguel President Ramon Ang said at a news conference on Tuesday. Without mentioning companies by name, he said some potential partners had been deterred by legal complexities surrounding the development of the country's telecoms industry.

PLDT had previously said it was considering legal action against the National Telecommunications Commission, the industry regulator, over the latter's pronouncement that it would be difficult to reallocate the 700 MHz spectrum because it was already assigned to San Miguel.

Ang said on Tuesday he had not sought any premium for the asset sale, so that negotiations could be quickly concluded and PLDT and Globe could begin work to improve their services.

Proceeds from the sale would add to San Miguel's already large cashpile with a view to being reinvested in core businesses like toll roads, food, petrochemical and oil refining, Ang said.

(Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr. and Kenneth Maxwell)