DITO reiterates business plan in response to PSE’s inquiry

DITO CME [DITO 1.08 ?10.7%; 385% avgVol] [link], the holdco of Dito Telecommunity (Dito Tel), provided investors with an update on its fundraising goals to pay for its expensive network expansion and growing debt obligations. DITO said that it plans to raise an additional P28.83 billion in equity through private placements between now and 2028, and that it will look to convert approximately P26 billion in shareholder advances to equity before the end of this year. 

  MB BOTTOM-LINE:  I saw a number of comments about how the private placement figure is dramatically lower than what DITO said in its previous response to a similar inquiry in August 2024, but I think that’s an incorrect take. I’m happy to be corrected if my take is wrong, but in August 2024, DITO said that it targeted to raise P40.26 billion within the next five years, but that it had already raised P5.5 billion in 2023 through three private placements with XTerra and the Summit Telco group. In the latest response, DITO said that it is now targeting to raise an additional P28.83 billion, but this section now outlines the massive Subscription Framework Agreement that was signed with the Summit Telco group as part of Summit Telco’s purchase of 9 billion primary common shares for P9 billion, plus the P1 billion DITO took from DITO Holdco in 2024, and P2.87 billion from Summit Telco group and another P0.197 billion from DITO Holdco in 2025. Altogether, my reading here is that as of August 2024, DITO had taken in P5.5 billion but was targeting P40.26 billion more. As of this latest response, they’d taken P13 billion (out of that original P40.26 target), and are still aiming to get another P28.83 billion more. If that analysis is correct, then this disclosure actually means that DITO has increased its 5-year equity raise target by about 4%, not slashed it. Did I read that wrong? 

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