PLDT Inc. is set to finalize discussions with an investor for the sale of 49 percent stake in its information and communications technology subsidiary ePLDT for over $1 billion in the third quarter of the year.
The company intends to keep the majority stake or 51 percent of the ownership of ePLDT for both the hyperscalers and domestic data centers, Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in an interview on the sidelines of PLDT’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.
Negotiations on the sale of the 49 percent stake are expected to be finalized this July, he said.
“We’re talking to the final bidder at this stage. We’ve agreed on the valuation with them.
There are a few issues and there are still a number of open points to be negotiated and agreed with them,” Pangilinan said.
“But hopefully in the next few weeks we should be able to finalize and convert those discussions into a binding term sheet. So hopefully by July, we should have a binding term sheet with this particular investor,” he added.
Meanwhile, PLDT will no longer pursue the real estate investment trust. “It’s too complicated. It will probably take longer, and the opportunity will be a bit more expensive,” Pangilinan said.
The proceeds from the transaction will be used to fund the debt payments, he said.
This year, PLDT expects its consolidated service revenues and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to grow by mid- to single-digit, driven by the sustained growth of profits in its broadband and enterprise businesses.
As of the end of March, PLDT’s consolidated net debt amounted to P242.2 billion, while net debt-to-EBITDA stood at 2.29x. Gross debt stood at P257 billion, with maturities well spread out, PLDT said.
PLDT said 15 percent of its gross debt is denominated in US dollars and 5 percent is unhedged.
ePLDT operates 10 data centers and is set to launch its 11th data center, VITRO Sta. Rosa, this year with a total power capacity of 50 megawatts.
Designed to be Rated-3 Certified and Rated-4 Ready, it is fit to host the most critical and power-intensive IT infrastructure of hyperscalers and enterprises.
