Philippines' PLDT in talks to sell up to 49% of data centre business to Japan's NTT (updated)

NTT

07/05/2024 08:47

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      Deal could value PLDT data centre at $750 mln, sources say
    

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      NTT is Japan's largest phone company with $99.9 bln market
value
    

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      Shares of PLDT have climbed 5.6% year-to-date
    

  
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    By Neil Jerome Morales and Yantoultra Ngui
       MANILA/SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - The Philippines'
largest telecommunications group PLDT  TEL.PS  is in talks to
sell up to 49% of its data centre business to Japan's Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone (NTT)  9432.T , PLDT Chairman Manuel
Pangilinan told Reuters on Tuesday.
    The deal could value the data centre business at $750
million, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter,
declining to be identified as the discussions were private.
    PLDT declined to comment on the valuation. NTT did not
respond to a request for comment.
    NTT is Japan's largest phone company with a market value of
$99.9 billion as of Tuesday, LSEG data showed. 
    PLDT will use the proceeds to cut debt and fund ongoing and
new data centre projects, one of the people said. 
    A deal could be reached in the second half of this year, the
person said.
    Founded in 1928, PLDT is Philippines' largest
telecommunication conglomerate with businesses including fixed
line and wireless telephony, its website showed. 
    Headquartered in Makati city, it owns and operates 11 data
centres through subsidiary ePLDT.
    PLDT's share price has climbed 5.6% year-to-date, giving the
company a market value of $5.09 billion as of Tuesday, LSEG data
showed. 
    A deal would underscore increasing interest in Southeast
Asian data centres as an expanding digital population and the
rise of artificial intelligence fuel growth prospects.
        In September, global investment firm KKR & Co  KKR.N 
bought 20% of Singapore Telecommunications'  STEL.SI  regional
data centre business for S$1.1 billion ($813.49 million).
        
  
($1 = 1.3522 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in Manila and Yantoultra Ngui
in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher
Cushing)
 ((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))