Piltel completes acquisition of Meralco stake

MANILA, Philippines - Pilipino Telephone Corp., the country's third largest cellular service provider, has completed the acquisition of 20 percent of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from First Philippine Utilities Corp. on Tuesday. Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange showed a block sale of 223 million Meralco shares for P20.07 billion. The Meralco shares were sold at P90 apiece although it closed 3.45 percent weaker at P168. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) confirmed the transaction undertaken by Piltel, which is 92.81 percent owned by PLDT’s mobile phone unit, Piltel said in a disclosure. "The transaction was implemented through a special block sale or cross sale executed at the PSE," PLDT’s corporate secretary Ma. Lourdes C. Rausa-Chan said. In a separate disclosure, Lopez-led First Philipine Holdings Corp. chief finance officer Francis Giles B. Puno said wholly-owned subsidiary First Philippine Utilities has executed a share purchase agreement with Piltel for the 20 percent of the outstanding capital stock of Meralco. "The sale is in accordance with the investment and cooperation agreement earlier entered into by First Holdings with PLDT and disclosed last March 13, 2009," he said. Rausa-Chan, who is also the corporate secretary of Piltel, said in another disclosure the company would report its acquisition of more than five percent of Meralco within five business days and its ownership of more than 10 percent within 10 days. - GMANews.TV