PLDT sells bulk of Rocket Internet shares

Telco giant PLDT Inc. completed the sale of most of its stake in Germany’s Rocket Internet, a tech company it entered four years ago.

PLDT said it had sold back to Rocket 6.8 million shares valued at a total of 163.2 million euros, or about P10 billion. Its 6.1-percent stake fell to 2 percent post-transaction.

PLDT sold the shares at 24 euros each, representing a roughly 27-percent loss from its entry price.

PLDT first invested in Rocket Internet in 2014, lured by the company’s ambitious goal of rapidly replicating successful startup models and rolling these out in emerging markets.

The telco giant had been hinting at a sale since late 2017 due to plans to pour larger investments into its network infrastructure given increasing demand for better internet services and the specter of a new market challenger entering within the year. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS