Smart to buy out Piltel minority shareholders

Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), plans to launch a month-long tender offer – commencing 1 July – to buy out minority shareholders of its 92.87%-owned subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Corp (Piltel). In a statement published earlier this week, Smart said it was looking to mop up 839.38 million Piltel shares at PHP8.50 per share, making the tender worth a total of PHP7.14 billion (USD147.5 million). In March this year the board of Smart Communications decided to transform the telecoms company into an investment holding company, whose principal asset is a 20% stake in the nation’s largest power distribution company, Manila Electric Company.