PLDT to finalize sale of some assets within 3rd quarter

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. expects to finalize the sale of some of its assets within the third quarter in support of its capital spending this year, but has shelved the redevelopment of its Makati properties due to the pandemic.

“There are two transactions we hope to close in the third quarter. There have been some delays also because of extraordinary circumstances in the past few months,” PLDT chief financial officer Anabelle Lim-Chua said.

Earlier, Chua said there are “a few opportunistic properties” that the company plans to sell worth billions of pesos.

“There are probably about five properties that we have identified for sale,” she previously said, citing among them properties in Pasay, Gracepark, Mabolo and Mabalacat.

Meanwhile, PLDT’s plan to redevelop its office in Makati has also taken a backseat due to the pandemic.

“That has been put on hold because of the pandemic,” PLDT chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

PLDT last year revived plans to redevelop its head office in Makati and sell some of its asset properties to lessen the company’s borrowings for its capex initiatives. The plan dates back to 2016.

PLDT also said last March that it has made a deal for the sale of the Smart Tower in Makati, but declined to disclose the buyer yet.

At the onset of the pandemic, PLDT said it would cut this year’s capex from P83 billion to about P63 billion.

Last week, however, the company said it has upgraded the capex to P70 billion, or a reduction of only 15 percent from the original P83 billion, in response to the call for improved service.

“Given that our network rollout efforts have regained momentum, we are levelling up our target capital expenditures for 2020 back up to about P70 billion. The balance of our original P83 billion capex budget will be spent next year,” Pangilinan said.