SMC, partner raise stake in Liberty Telecoms

MANILA, Philippines - Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and partner Qatar Telecom raised their respective interests in listed Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. that plans to launch mobile services within the year.

Liberty Holdings corporate information officer Catherine Laurel-Carpio informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that SMC’s Vega Telecom Inc. and QTEL’s Qtel West Bay Holdings S.P.C. increased their stake in Liberty Telecoms with the issuance of advances in exchange for 2.687 billion unissued shares of unlisted preferred shares worth P2.687 billion.

 â€œThe issuance of unlisted preferred shares was intended and is expected to address the capital deficiency of the company and to bring stockholders’s equity from negative to positive,” she said.

The Board of Directors of Liberty Telecoms approved the issuance of 1.316 billion shares to Vega Telecom, 872.05 million shares to Qtel, and 498.92 million to White Dawn Solution Holdings Inc. last April 29.

Based on additional information submitted to the PSE, Laurel-Carpio said the consideration for the issuance of preferred shares was the advances of Vega, White Dawn, and Qtel used to fund the working capital requirements of wi-Tribe Telecoms Inc.

With the additional shares, the stake of SMC’s Vega Telecom in Liberty Holdings increased to 45.05 percent from 41.48 percent while that of Qtel rose to 29.46 percent from 26.75 percent.

Likewise, the stake of White Dawn inched up to 18.46 percent from 18.36 percent.

She clarified that the public float of Liberty Telecoms remained at 17.25 percent while foreign ownership decreased slightly to 32.6 percent from 32.7 percent.

Last October, Liberty Telecoms infused P7.6 billion into its wholly-owned subsidiary wi-Tribe Telecoms through a debt to equity conversion. 

SMC president Ramon S. Ang believes that Liberty Telecoms would not make money over the next few years.

 â€œLiberty Telecoms will not make money in the next year or so,” he added.

The company was placed under corporate rehabilitation and debt restructuring after it suspended its operations in April 2005 due to lack of capital required to operate. It is sticking to the original schedule of getting out of rehabilitation in 2016.

Liberty Telecoms is still pursuing plans to launch various services in the telecommunication industry despite the dominance of major players led by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc.

Ang disclosed that Liberty Telecoms intends to venture into the mobile business to provide voice calls, short messaging system (SMS) or text messaging as well as mobile broadband.