PLDT to Sell Telecom Towers to International Investors in $1.5 Billion Deal

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 [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2022 01:18 ET (05:18 GMT)

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