Philippine Long Distance Telephone said Wednesday it had completed an $1.6 billion deal to acquire a local rival in what would likely become the largest corporate buyout in the country's history.
The dominant carrier, also known as PLDT, secured all regulatory approvals required to acquire a 51.55 percent stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel), the two companies said in a joint statement.
The 69.2 billion-peso ($1.6-billion) share swap would be followed by a mandatory tender offer for the remaining publicly held shares of Digitel and divestment by PLDT in a unit that owns so-called 3G telecom frequency.
"If fully taken up, the tender offer would bring the total transaction value to 74.1 billion pesos ($1.71 billion), making it the largest buyout in Philippine corporate history," the joint statement said.
The acquisition of Digitel's majority stake itself was initiated in March but completed only on Wednesday after regulators had made sure it did not create a potential monopoly.
The buyout leaves JG Summit of aviation and property tycoon John Gokongwei, the country's third-richest man, with a 12.9 percent share of PLDT.
The joint statement said the two sides had agreed to let JG Summit sell some of its PLDT stocks to fellow shareholders First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong and Japan's NTT Docomo Inc.
After these separate transactions, JG Summit would own about 8.0 percent of PLDT, it added.
PLDT, Digitel and Globe Telecom, a joint venture between the Philippines' Ayala Group and Singapore Telecom, dominate the Philippines' fiercely competitive telecommunications sector.
Listed PLDT earlier Wednesday closed 1.04 percent higher to 2,330 pesos while JG Summit added 1.78 percent to 25.70 pesos.
Digitel rose 0.65 percent to 1.54 pesos.
