PLDT Inc. said Tuesday it terminated negotiations with Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) for the sale of a 49-percent stake in its data center business.
PLDT chairman and president Manuel Pangilinan told reporters the company is no longer in talks with NTT because the latter wanted a majority stake or 51 percent in Vitro Inc., PLDT’s data center business.
“If you give up majority, then our revenues will drop by P6 billion,” Pangilinan said. “The data center is important to us. So, why should we agree? Just because somebody tells you?” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan said, however, PLDT is in talks with another potential investor.
“Well, I think the best way to describe this is that we’re still under discussion with one particular potential investor for the data center,” he said.
“I think if we’re to proceed, it’s likely that we’re going to sign with the investor within a year or before the end of the process,” he said.
Pangilinan did not disclose the identity of the potential investor.
Pangilinan said PLDT planned to sell a 49-percent stake of ePLDT in Vitro for about $1 billion. Vitro is a fully-owned subsidiary of ePLDT, the ICT holding company of the PLDT Group. Darwin G. Amojelar
He said the data center sale aimed to reduce PLDT’s debt amounting to P265.4 billion as of end-June 2024.
VITRO operates 10 facilities with a combined capacity of 50 megawatts and is building its 11th data center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. The activation of the Sta. Rosa facilityy will increase its capacity to 99.5 MW.
PLDT reported a net income of P18.41 billion in the first half of 2024, nearly flat from P18.45 billion in the same period last year.
PLDT’s consolidated service revenues grew 3 percent year-on-year to P96.9 billion in the six-month period.
