By Cris Larano
MANILA--Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (TEL.PH), the
country's largest telecommunications group by assets, said Tuesday
it agreed to cede control of wholly owned business
process-outsourcing unit SPi Global Holdings Inc. by selling an 80%
stake to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
PLDT said it will retain around 20% of SPi Global, one of the
world's largest business process-outsourcing companies, providing
customer-interaction, healthcare and publishing services.
PLDT didn't provide financial details for the sale, but people
familiar with the matter said earlier the price would top $300
million. The deal is expected to close in March. UBS is PLDT's
financial adviser for the deal.
PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in a statement the company
will reinvest some of the proceeds of the sale in Asia Outsourcing
Gamma Ltd., a company owned by CVC Partners. Asia Outsourcing is
the corporate vehicle that holds CVC Partner's stake in SPi
Global.
He said the sale is part of the continuing review of PLDT's
business portfolio.
"We remain very confident in the long-term prospects of SPi,"
Mr. Pangilinan said in reference to the decision to retain a 20%
stake in the company.
Write to Cris Larano at cris.larano@dowjones.com
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