Ayala Corp to sell 3% stake in Globe Telecom to partner SingTel for P4.6B

Ayala Corp. is selling around three percent of its stake in Globe Telecom to Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel), Southeast Asia’s largest telecommunications company, for P4.6 billion, which the country’s largest and most diversified conglomerate plans to use to expand its  business process outsourcing operations (BPO) and its 68 percent-owned unit Integrated Microelectronics Inc.  (IMI).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala  said it is selling 3.8 million common shares of Globe at P1,210 per share or at a 2.5 percent premium over Globe’s closing price yesterday of P1,180 each.

Once completed, the acquisition   will raise SingTel’s shareholdings in Globe to 47.3 percent from 44.47 percent. Ayala, on the other hand, will end up with nearly 31 percent of Globe while the remaining 22 percent is held by the public.

“Our value as a holding company lies in our ability to re-allocate and turn over capital in order to start new investment cycles,” said Ayala chairman and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala in a statement.

Ayala  also acknowledged the strong partnership it has forged with SingTel over the years. The alliance has enabled Globe to be a pioneer in digital technology and in many other mobile communications services.

The conglomerate continues to work closely with SingTel to find ways to derive greater strength from SingTel’s extensive presence in the region.

The SingTel Group’s main operations are in Singapore and Australia, through wholly-owned subsidiary SingTel Optus. Its other major investments in the region apart from Globe Telecom in the Philippines include Advanced Info Service in Thailand, the Bharti Telecom Group in India, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom in Bangladesh, Telkomsel in Indonesia and Warid Telecom in Pakistan.

SingTel has around 185 million mobile customers in eight markets, the largest multi-market mobile customer base in Asia outside of China .

Ayala’s business empire comprises  real estate, telecommunications, banking and financial services, automotive, electronics manufacturing services, business process outsourcing, and water distribution.

Property unit Ayala Land Inc. has earmarked P24 billion for its capital expenditures this year, 60 percent higher than the P15.2 billion spent in 2007.  Around 30 percent of this will be  channeled to the expansion of its business process outsourcing  space, significantly higher than the 12 percent a year earlier. 

With 26 BPO projects in construction, the company is on track to achieving its target of 700,000 square meters of gross lease area (GLA) by 2011 from only 36,000 square meters as of end-2006.

The group is completing construction of the first six of the projected 10 buildings it will put up under its mixed-use development plan for the UP North Science & Technology Park.

Meanwhile IMI earlier disclosed it was seeking additional capital from shareholders to fund its expansion plans which would entail investments of over P1 billion.

IMI has facilities in Laguna, Cebu, Cavite, China, Singapore, US and Japan.