Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC:PM) has bought controlling stakes in three local telecoms firms including a 78.45% indirect share of Extelcom, the country’s first mobile operator.
Wholly owned subsidiary Vega Telecoms acquired 100% of…
Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC:PM) has bought controlling stakes in three local telecoms firms including a 78.45% indirect share of Extelcom, the country’s first mobile operator.
Wholly owned subsidiary Vega Telecoms acquired 100% of MultiTech Holdings, which holds the Extelcom stake, and a share of an undisclosed size in a group called High Frequency Telecommunications.
Extelcom was previously majority owned by local entrepreneur Roberto Ongpin and UK-based Ashmore Investment Management.
Financial details were not disclosed.
SMC said in a separate stock exchange filing that Vega planned to buy out its fellow shareholders in Liberty Telecoms Holdings (Philippines:LIB), a recently restructured 4G player also known as Wi-Tribe, and then launch a tender for shares held by the public.
Vega previously owned nearly half of Liberty and this deal includes the 40% stake held by Qatari telco Ooredoo (QA:ORDS).
Ooredoo, which operates across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, bought the stake in 2008 to develop a WiMAX business in the Philippines. It said it agreed to the deal, which requires regulatory approval, to focus on core operations.
SMC’s business mainly focuses on the food and drink sectors, but it has been growing its telecoms portfolio in recent years through acquiring local telcos – some of them dormant – and building stakes in existing units.
It had been rumoured to be in talks to buy Extelcom long before creating a holding company in 2011 for its growing telecoms business. Standard Chartered was believed to be advising the group on finding strategic partners back then.
Although Extelcom became the first MNO in the Philippines when it was founded in 1988, it has since been overtaken in the mobile space by the country’s largest operator PLDT.
SMC’s telecoms portfolio also includes local players Bell Telecommunications and Eastern Telecommunications.
