MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) and PLDT Inc. on Friday announced the signing of a share purchase agreement (SPA) involving the telco’s acquisition of the power distribution firm’s remaining shares in Radius Telecoms Inc. for P2.935 billion.
In a disclosure, Meralco said the SPA covered the sale of 4,647,494 common shares of Paragon Vertical Corp. in Radius Telecoms. Paragon is a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Meralco Ventures Inc., itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Meralco.
PLDT currently has a 34.9-percent equity stake in Radius.
PLDT’s board approved the transaction on May 14, “subject to the execution of definitive agreements and the satisfaction of applicable closing conditions” as well as to related approvals.
Meralco said the total consideration of P2.935 billion would be paid in two portions, adding that “once the transaction is completed, Radius Telecoms Inc. will cease to become a subsidiary of Meralco and will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of PLDT.”
Radius Telecoms, which holds a congressional telecommunications franchise, was said to have an end-to-end full fiber optic network covering more than 11,000 kilometers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, including Clark and Cebu.
Meralco said it was divesting fully from Radius to enable it to realize value from its investment while at the same time allowing PLDT to have full ownership of the company.
Meralco shares on Friday dropped by P10, or 1.77 percent, to close at P556 each while those of PLDT went up by P5.00, or 0.44 percent, to settle at P1,142 apiece, amid a 0.45-percent uptick for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.
