Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has bought an additional 2% stake in telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company for Y21.6bn (US$263m), the company announced.
Selling the stake will be local conglomerate JG Summit Holdings, with which DoCoMo has…
Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has bought an additional 2% stake in telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company for Y21.6bn (US$263m), the company announced.
Selling the stake will be local conglomerate JG Summit Holdings, with which DoCoMo has signed an option agreement.
DoCoMo said it must exercise the option within 30 days of the shares being listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The buyer explained that the reason for the move was to maintain parent company NTT Group’s cumulative stake in PLDT at around 20%, since PLDT is planning to buy a 51.55% stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) from JG Summit for PhP74.1bn (US$1.7bn) via a share swap announced on March 29.
PLDT will issue new shares by the end of June, the expected completion date.
The regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), is set to review the deal, in order to determine whether the combined entity – which will hold three 3G licences – will constitute a monopoly.
ING acted as financial adviser while SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan provided legal advice to PLDT. Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura, Sayoc & De Los Angeles was legal adviser to JG Summit. HSBC advised First Pacific on the transaction.
The Japanese company noted that another NTT Group subsidiary, NTT Communications Corporation, also owns PLDT common stock.
DOCOMO said that it would strengthen its operational ties with PLDT and its mobile unit Smart Communications via a joint business cooperation committee involving all three companies.
DOCOMO, which first bought into PLDT in March 2006 via a 7% stake, has since then been upping its ownership.
