MVP still keen on majority stake in STAR

MANILA, Philippines - Mediaquest Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., is still willing to beef up its interest in The Philippine STAR to majority depending on the negotiations with the Belmonte family.

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in an interview with reporters that the dominant carrier is open to take a controlling stake in the daily and that talks with the Belmonte family are ongoing.

“Let us see if they (Belmontes) are open for us to be majority,” Pangilinan said.

 The PLDT Group through Mediaquest Holdings owns a 20-percent stake in Philippine STAR, 12 percent in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and  30 percent in BusinessWorld Publishing Corp.

Pangilinan’s group was reportedly talking with the Belmonte family as early as two years ago for the acquisition of an 87.5-percent stake in Phillippine STAR for a total consideration of P4.8 billion. The Belmonte’s are reportedly asking for a higher valuation due to the company’s strong financial performance the past three years.

If talks on the acquisition of a majority stake in Philippine STAR, will push though, Pangilinan said the transaction would be done in stages.

“It will be done in stages,” the PLDT chief clarified.

He explained that the company does not intend to take over the management of the broadsheet as talks for the deal are still ongoing.

“It is still under discussion. We have a good partnership with them (Belmontes). We are not involved in the operations and we don’t sit on the board, we are entitled to but we don’t,” Pangilinan said.

MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. is a media conglomerate owned by the Beneficial Trust Fund of the PLDT. It owns most of the media establishments such as Associated Broadcasting Co. (TV5), Nation Broadcasting Corp. (NBC), Cignal Digital TV (Cignal), a 30-percent interest in BusinessWorld, 20 percent in Philippine STAR, 12 percent in the Philipine Daily Inquirer, and a 30-percent stake in the Unitel Group.

MediaQuest was established in the 1990s and First launched with Home Cable, a direct-to-home cable TV subscription service and second largest cable TV company through Unilink Communications.

 On July 1, 2001, Home Cable merged its CATV operation to Sky Cable Corp. and created Beyond Cable Holdings Inc. with an enterprise value of P14.5 billion.

Beyond Cable Inc. controls 66.5 percent through Benpres Holdings and 33.5 percent through MediaQuest Holdings Inc. Home Cable ceased its operations on June 30, 2005. PLDT sold its stake in SkyCable to the Lopez Group of Companies in 2008.

In 1998, MediaQuest acquired Nation Broadcasting Corp. from the consortium of the Yabut family and then House Speaker Manny Villar.

In 2007, MediaQuest acquired GV Broadcasting Systems, a direct-to-home satellite provider and radio network from Satventures Inc. of the Galang family. In the same year, it launched myTV as a mobile TV service.

One of the biggest acquisitions was in 2010 when they bought a 75-percent stake in Associated Broadcasting Co. and blocktimer Primedia Inc. from businessman Antonio Cojuangco.