InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS
MANILA - (UPDATED 5:00 p.m.) Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is looking at ePLDT Inc. as another vehicle for the telecom giant's possible acquisition of GMA Network Inc.
"I think ePLDT could pick up the PDRs because GMA7 has a PDR structure," Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, said, referring to the broadcast company's Philippine Depositary Receipts.
PDRs are securities issued by companies in which foreign ownership is restricted by law. Instead of stocks, foreigners can buy the Philippine company's PDRs.
GMA Holdings Inc., the corporate vehicle that issued the broadcast firm's PDRs, has 861.298 million of the said securities that are outstanding. They were last traded at P10.26 apiece on Thursday and were worth a total of P8.785 billion.
On Wednesday, ePLDT sold its 397.89 million shares - a 27 percent stake - in Philweb Corp. back to the online gaming firm for P10.70 a share or for a total consideration of P4.26 billion. The transaction will be completed by the end of next year.
The sale of the Philweb stake comes several weeks after PLDT announced it would invest a combined P6 billion in TV5 and Cignal through ePLDT. The PLDT group owns TV5 and Cignal through MediaQuest Holdings. InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5.
Pangilinan however said the divestment from Philweb was not "directly linked to any transaction," referring to the possible buyout of GMA7.
"We have contemplated the divestment of Philweb a bit quite time ago. It's really not our business and the investment has ripened to the point where it is time to realize our gains from the investment," he said.
He said the PLDT group would instead tap banks to raise money for its media expansion, including the possible acquisition of GMA Network.
"We are preparing for that in the event that it will materialize. We are talking to our bankers," he said.
Last month, InterAksyon.com reported that the telecom giant was in talks with local banks for a syndicated loan facility that would help fund its bid to acquire GMA7.
Citing bank sources, InterAksyon.com said the PLDT group is holding discussions with some of the country's biggest lenders, including BDO and Metrobank, for a P12 billion loan facility.
When asked if the transaction would be completed this year, Pangilinan said: "That's what we would like to see. The time table is beyond our control because we have to go to both the Congress and subject to the approval of the NTC."
Pangilinan had said his group will pay cash when it acquires GMA7, adding that discussions with the controlling shareholders of the broadcast company - the Gozons, Duavits and Jimenezes - were "moving positively."
The PLDT group has been courting GMA7, but talks have stalled on a price acceptable to both parties.
Pangilinan said any acquisition price would however be "below P100 billion.”
At the close of trading on Thursday, the market valued GMA7 at P34.62 billion.
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