PLDT denies 'engaging' US law firms to prevent lawsuits amid capex debacle
MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. denied reports it is trying to prevent a potential legal battle by reaching out to US law firms representing American investors who might have incurred losses during a recent brutal sell-off of the company’s shares, which was triggered by the telco’s disclosure that it overspent in the past four years.
In a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, PLDT said it has lawyers in the US who can defend the company should a class action suit be filed against the company.
“While PLDT has seen reports that certain US law firms are investigating potential claims on behalf of investors of PLDT for alleged violations of securities laws—as is common when issuers disclose certain events—PLDT is not engaging with such law firms and has retained US counsel to defend against any suits that may be filed,” the company said.
PLDT issued the statement after local media reported that several shareholder rights law firms in the US have launched separate investigations into the 23% slump in the price of PLDT’s American Depositary Receipts on December 19, or after the company disclosed its P48-billion budget “overruns”.
The US law firms that reportedly started a probe on behalf of American investors were Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, The Schall Law Firm, Johnson Fistel LLP and Law Offices of Howard G. Smith.
At home, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the PSE and the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. (CMIC) — the independent audit, surveillance, compliance and enforcement unit of the PSE — have launched separate probes into PLDT’s reported overspending, which rocked the listed telco giant’s share price.
PSE president Ramon Monzon earlier said the stock exchange did not find any indications of insider trading of PLDT shares, which suffered from a vicious sell-off on December 16 even before the company could make a formal disclosure of the budget overruns.
PLDT said an internal investigation — which is still ongoing — did not find any fraudulent transactions, procurement anomalies, or loss of assets arising from the excessive budget spending, the amount of which represents about 12.7% of the firm’s total capex in the past four years.
“In the past month, there have been various write-ups circulating in the public space that contain inaccurate information. These write-ups have been detrimental not only to PLDT, but ultimately and more importantly, to the shareholders of the company,” PLDT said.
In connection, groups like the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines, a minority investor protection group, reminded publicly-listed companies like PLDT that they should bat for fair and equitable access to information.
“SharePHIL urges PLDT and other publicly-listed companies to advance minority shareholder rights—primarily through the fair and equitable access to information, similar to the privilege given to institutional investors,” their statement read.
“We trust that PLDT will take the necessary measures to uphold their values of transparency, accountability, and integrity,” they added.
Shares in PLDT finished midweek trading up 4.04% to P1,313 apiece.
Editor's Note: A unit under PLDT's media conglomerate has a majority stake in Philstar Global Corp., which runs Philstar.com. This article was independently produced following editorial guidelines.
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