PLDT eyes acquisition of European Internet firm

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) might have failed to acquire a stake in television broadcast firm GMA Network Inc. but its top official said the company was setting its sights on new global investments or partnerships.

PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said on Friday that the company was looking at a global Internet company. Although he declined to give details, a source with knowledge of the matter said one of the targets was a Europe-based firm, which could help the company grow its e-commerce business.

Pangilinan declined to elaborate on the plan or on the structure of the deal, saying the company was continuously looking abroad for investments. “Mostly Internet companies, these are global [players],” Pangilinan said.

A successful deal in Europe could help PLDT’s single-biggest shareholder, Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., establish a foothold in the continent, the same source said.

Pangilinan was asked on future investments after PLDT failed to acquire a stake in GMA7, one of the country’s biggest television broadcast companies, after several attempts over the last decade. The estimated 30-percent stake in GMA7 would be acquired by businessman Ramon S. Ang, president of San Miguel Corp.

The acquisition was deemed an important part of the company’s convergence strategy, which involves combining the business of content providers like GMA7 with PLDT’s traditional telco services.

Pangilinan said PLDT, which owns the country’s third-biggest television broadcast firm TV5 as well as stakes in the country’s largest newspapers (including a minority share in the Philippine Daily Inquirer), was not likely to revive talks with GMA7 any time soon.

“Well, it’s not on our radar screens. They [GMA7’s major shareholders] have made announcements,” Pangilinan said.

First Pacific, controlled by Indonesia’s Salim family and where Pangilinan serves as CEO, is mainly invested in the Philippines and Indonesia. It is currently making a takeover bid for Goodman Fielder Ltd., a major supermarket food supplier based in Australia.