PLDT gets buy offers for Ayala building; other assets up for sale

Telco giant PLDT Inc. is pursuing the sale of prime property assets and shares in a German technology startup to help fund another round of record capital spending in 2020.

PLDT chair and CEO Manuel Pangilinan told reporters the company received offers from unnamed bidders for the 36-story SMART Tower along Ayala Avenue.

Pangilinan said the company hoped to raise at least P5 billion from that asset alone.

“We’re selling that and three other minor properties,” Pangilinan said.

He said the asset sales so far did not include PLDT’s headquarters, the Ramon Cojuangco Building, which was part of a roughly one-hectare complex along Makati Avenue. Pangilinan earlier said that complex could be sold or redeveloped into new high-rise office towers.

Apart from property, PLDT still owns about two million shares in Germany’s Rocket Internet, currently valued at about P2.5 billion.

Pangilinan said these could also be sold to finance the budget for 2020, which would likely be higher than the previous year’s.

PLDT last year allotted a historic spending budget of P78.4 billion, an increase over the previous year by P20 billion.

Bulk of the amount was set aside to upgrade the company’s mobile and fixed-line networks.

The company is fortifying its network to meet increasing demand for high-speed internet from customers.

Moreover, it comes ahead of the entry of Dito Telecommunity, the country’s third major telco backed by China Telecom.

Dito earlier said it hoped to launch commercial services by the middle of 2020.