JG Summit raises P14.5B from sale of PLDT shares

JG Summit Holdings of the Gokongwei group raised P14.5 billion in cash from the sale of a small portion of its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Co. to a local affiliate of the telecommunications giant’s controlling shareholder First Pacific group.

Exercising its call option under a deal it sealed when it ceded control of Digital Telecommunications (Digitel) to PLDT, JG Summit sold 5.81 million of its shares in PLDT at P2,500 to Metro Pacific Resources Inc.

The transaction, equivalent to about 2.7 percent of PLDT’s outstanding common shares, was crossed at the local stock market on Monday, thus bloating total value turnover.

With the exercise of the call option, JG Summit is still left with 21.7 million shares in the telecommunications firm, equivalent to about 10 percent of PLDT.

At Monday’s closing price of P2,440 a share, JG Summit’s stake in PLDT was valued at P52.95 billion.

After several months of delay, JG Summit and PLDT last October closed a share-swap deal, which would result in the consolidation of Digitel into PLDT.

This would allow JG Summit to acquire a 12.9-percent stake in the local telecommunications firm in exchange for PLDT’s takeover of Digitel.

The option given to JG Summit to sell a portion of its stake in PLDT allowed the Gokongweis to unlock cash values immediately after the deal.

The group has stated its intention to hold on to the remainder of its interest in PLDT for the long haul.