Stock News 2011: PLDT awaits regulators’ go-ahead on P78-billion Digitel deal

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Although stockholders of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) approved yesterday the telco’s takeover of Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Digitel), the P78-billion deal – supposed to be completed at the end of the month, could still be left dangling without the nod of regulators.

“We don’t see a legal impediment,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters after the stockholders’ meeting the other day. However, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) still has to hold a second hearing on the transaction next Tuesday (June 21).

Meanwhile, in this week’s stockholders’ meeting, PLDT elected Pangilinan, Nazareno, Ray Espinosa, Oscar Reyes, Tatsu Kono, Takashi Ooi, Tony Tan Caktiong, Helen Dee, Juan Santos, and Lourdes Rausa Chan as Directors. Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, Pedro Roxas and Alfred Ty were elected independent directors.

PLDT needs a go-ahead from the NTC as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the asset valuation and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) for the block sale of the Digitel shares, among other technical requirements.

“It’s beyond our hands,” he admitted. “If everything goes well next week (at the NTC hearing), we hope it will be sooner than later. But we can’t tell how many days (it will take).”

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/322852/pldt-awaits-regulators-goahead-p78billion-digitel-deal