PT&T eyes early exit from rehabilitation

Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T) is seeking an early exit from corporate rehabilitation as it also plans to resolve long-running debts to various creditors.

PT&T, which underwent a change in ownership last year, is taking these steps in line with its goal to “shift focus to growing its operations” and potentially join the race to become a major telco player in the Philippines, a company statement showed.

PT&T said its court-assisted corporate rehabilitation, approved in 2011, is set to end in 2025. It noted on Wednesday that it had asked the Regional Trial Court of Makati City on July 30 that it be allowed an early exit from rehabilitation, subject to certain requirements.

“PT&T’s exit from receivership enables the company to raise additional capital in the stock market to fund our expansion plans, both in fixed broadband and beyond,” Miguel Bitanga, PT&T chief operating officer, said in the statement.

PT&T said it would hold a stockholders’ meeting on Sept. 14, 2018. It plans to increase its authorized capital stock and settle its obligations through a debt-to-equity conversion as mandated by the approved rehabilitation plan.

PT&T noted it had debts of about P8.8 billion, which will be converted to equity via the issuance of redeemable serial preferred shares.

Earlier court documents showed that the debt amounted to as much as P12.4 billion when considering PT&T’s affiliates.

“The exit from rehab is well within the plan of our new shareholders and another proof point that PT&T is serious in it’s intention to be a major player in the Philippines telecommunications industry,” James Velasquez, PT&T president and CEO, said in the same statement.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology is in the process of finalizing the terms of reference for its initiative to bring in a new telco company that will challenge incumbents PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

PT&T currently provides high-speed fixed internet services in the Greater Manila Area, Northern and Southern Luzon. Its fiber optic networks spans about 1,000 kilometers, the statement showed.—MIGUEL R. CAMUS