Aussie group, local partners to buy 67.5% stake in ETPI

An Australian group and its Filipino partners are now close to finally acquiring a majority 67.5-percent stake in Eastern Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (ETPI).

AGN Philippines, Inc. (AGNP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Gigahertz Network Pty Ptd., now owns 40 percent of ETPI after AGNP paid $20 million to Aerocom Investors and Managers, Inc. in exchange for the latter’s stake in the company.

AGNP announced yesterday that it had concluded the conditional sale agreement it had entered into with Aerocom to acquire the 40 -percent Class B shares which Aerocom holds in ETPJ.

The $20 million which AGNP paid is 11 percent more than what Aerocom recently paid for the share when it exercised its right of first refusal and acquired the shares being sold by Cable & Wireless Plc.

AGNP’s acqusition of a 40-percent stake in ETPI comes on the heels of the sale by Smart Communications Inc. of its 8.9-percent stake in ETPI to CPR Philippines, Inc., one of AGNP’s Filipino partners.

CPR is headed by Modesto Cervantes, who is the president of EasyCall Philippines, Inc. Cervantes was also in partnership with the Australians in the case of EasyCall.

Another Filipino group, PRN Philippines Inc., aligned with AGN, has entered into a conditional sale agreement for a 17.7-percent stake in ETPI.

Once this sale is finalized, the alliance of AGNP, CPR, and PRN would control 67.5 percent of ETPI.

In exercising its right of first refusal, Aerocom blocked the bid of Digial Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel) to acquire the 40-percent stake in ETPI.

Aerocom was said to have considered the Australian Gigahertz Network and the latter’s Filipino partner as a better alternative for ETPI and the country in general since it ensured that the telecommunications market, especially the emerging broadband data market, would remain competitive with as many players in the field as possible.

There were earlier reports that the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) was interested in edging out the Australians for a majority control of ETPI, but PLDT denied this in a disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission.