Globe Telecom – the Philippine telephone giant jointly owned by Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecom – on the sale of 1,350 cell towers to a consortium backed by a unit of Australian Macquarie Group for 20 billion pesos ($340 million).
The assets are acquired by the Phil-Tower Consortium, which includes Macquarie Capital and Global Network, Inc. Globe will lease back the towers – located in the Philippine islands of Visayas and Mindanao – for an initial period of 15 years, the company said in a statement submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The proceeds from the sale will be used to finance the company’s capital expenditures and pay off outstanding debts, it added.
The deal follows Globe’s withdrawal in August of a separate portfolio of 5,709 towers for a company backed by US private equity firm KKR & Co. and a joint venture between Stonepeak Partners and Manila Electric Co for 71 billion pesos.
โThese monetization efforts will provide an increase in Globeโs overall value, and support our goal of enabling the digital lives of Filipinos,โ Ernest Coe, Globe President and CEO, said in a statement.
Globe and its parent company Ayala Corp. – The oldest conglomerate in the Philippines – to intensify its investments in digital technologies. In March, the duo formed an alliance with ST Telemedia Global Data Centers to help the Singapore-based company expand its presence in the Philippines amid growing demand for server space from e-commerce and other digital platforms.
