PLDT Inc. is now proceeding with the sale of 49% of its data center business to a foreign company for more than $1 billion, the company’s chairman said.
“We are talking to the final bidder at this stage; we have agreed the valuation with them,” PLDT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday.
“There are a few issues, and there are still a number of open points to be negotiated and agreed upon,” he added.
To recall, PLDT has been in talks to sell up to 49% of its data center business, ePLDT, Inc., to Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), which valued its data center at $1 billion.
“I can’t disclose the name, but somebody you know,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
He said the company is expecting to settle some negotiations with the company and finalize the agreement by July.
“In the next few weeks, we should be able to finalize and convert those discussions into a binding term sheet. By July, we should have a binding term sheet with this particular investor,” he said.
With this development, the company will not proceed with its planned real estate investment trust (REIT) listing for ePLDT.
In May, Mr. Pangilinan said its data center unit might opt for a REIT listing if its negotiations with a foreign entity for its data center sale would not push through.
To date, PLDT, through its subsidiary ePLDT, has 11 data centers, including the 50-megawatt hyperscale data center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, which is expected to be completed by July.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — A.E.O. Jose
