Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), the country’s largest telco, has received approval from its shareholders to issue 150 million new voting shares.
The shares will be issued to local investors, which will allow PLDT to dilute the shareholding…
Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), the country’s largest telco, has received approval from its shareholders to issue 150 million new voting shares.
The shares will be issued to local investors, which will allow PLDT to dilute the shareholding of non-Philippine nationals and therefore comply with foreign ownership regulations in the country.
Foreign investment in Philippine telcos is restricted to 40% but the Supreme Court clarified in June last year that only voting or common shares can be included when calculating the capital stock of a company, therefore excluding preferred or non-voting shares.
Under this calculation, PLDT is therefore more than 64%-foreign owned. After the issuance of new voting shares, foreign ownership in the company will be reduced to 36%.
Last October, PLDT completed the acquisition of number three Digitel for US$1.6bn, leaving the country with two mobile operators.
