PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel Pangilinan said a deal is on the boil for a 49% stake in the operator group’s data centre business, despite negotiations with Japan-based Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) collapsing.
Pangilinan said PLDT is still under discussion with “one particular investor” claiming talks are “progressing well” enough for a deal to be struck this year, reported Bloomberg.
The executive refused to confirm the talks are with CVC Capital Partners, after local paper the Philippine Star brought up the equity company.
Pangilinan said negotiations with other bidders including NTT, fell through because they wanted a majority stake in PLDT’s data centre unit. Such a deal would result in a drop of revenues by PHP6 billion (US$105 million), said Pangilinan, “either we sell down up to 49% or we stay at 100%.”
The chairman valued the data centre unit over US$1 billion and the group is pursuing a stake sale to pay down debts. The unit has the Philippines largest data centre network with 10 facilities and an another currently being built.
PLDT reported in its Q2 2024 report for the six months ending June 30, net income remained flat at PHP18.5 billion. Revenue grew 3% from PHP104 billion to PHP107 billion. Meanwhile EBITDA saw a 4% increase from PHP52 billion to PHP54 billion.
The company recorded 68.2 billion subscribers to its mobile, fixed line and data services.
