Yahoo Finance Philippine telecom firm PLDT weighing $300 million tower sale, sources say
By Elffie Chew and Manuel Baigorri
PLDT Inc. is considering selling an additional 2,000 telecommunications towers, according to people with knowledge of the matter, extending the Philippine firm’s recent digital infrastructure asset divestments.
The country’s second-biggest telecom and digital services provider by market value is talking to banks for the potential disposal, said the people. A transaction would involve PLDT selling the towers and then leasing them back, and could value them at about $300 million, they said, asking not to be identified as the process is private.
PLDT divested half its towers in April for 77 billion pesos ($1.3 billion) in two portfolios to units of Edotco Group Sdn. and EdgePoint Infrastructure, according to a company statement in April.
Deliberations are still ongoing and PLDT could decide to keep the business, the people said. A representative for PLDT couldn’t immediately comment.
Should PLDT proceed with the planned sale, it would be joining its rival Globe Telecom Inc. in selling three portfolios of towers. Globe signed a sale and leaseback deal worth 20 billion pesos last month with a company backed by Macquarie Capital and Global Network Inc. The deal followed the disposal in August of two other tower portfolios to a KKR & Co.-backed company and a Stonepeak joint venture for about 71 billion pesos.
PLDT, which has a market value of about 321 billion pesos, is backed by Japan’s Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and Hong Kong-based investment firm First Pacific Co., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company’s total mobile subscribers stood at about 69 million by the end of June, while its broadband services had around 4.1 million users, its latest investor presentation shows.
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