Food and drink conglomerate San Miguel has confirmed it is interested in acquiring IT and multimedia company ISM Communications’ 37.7% stake in local telco Eastern Telecommunications.
San Miguel would make the purchase through its subsidiary Vega…
Food and drink conglomerate San Miguel has confirmed it is interested in acquiring IT and multimedia company ISM Communications’ 37.7% stake in local telco Eastern Telecommunications.
San Miguel would make the purchase through its subsidiary Vega Telecom, but would not merge Eastern Telecom with its other telecom unit, Liberty Telecoms, according to a notice to the Filipino stock exchange.
A few days ago, ISM said it was looking to exit the telecom sector by selling its remaining stake in Eastern Telecom. In January, the company had already sold a 40% stake in Eastern Telecom to San Miguel.
The latter has substantially increased its exposure to the telecom sector of late. Hot on the heels of the Eastern Telecom stake acquisition early this year, San Miguel was a few weeks later reportedly looking to swallow up another local operator, Express Telecommunications.
Back in November, it also increased its stake in local telco Liberty Telecom from 33% to 41.48%. Before that, in August, it bought Bell Telecommunication Philippines for an undisclosed sum.
And just recently, TelecomFinance confirmed that the conglomerate was setting up a holding company for all its telecom assets.
San Miguel reportedly filed an application with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to create the company. Standard Chartered is believed to be advising San Miguel on finding strategic partners.