Globe Telecom Inc. on Monday said it raised neatly P100 billion from the sale and leaseback of its telecommunications towers.
The Ayala-led telco has been actively selling its non-strategic infrastructure since last year, aiming to offload 7,000 towers in what is potentially the largest-ever sale and leaseback transaction in the Philippines.
This latest contract with Unity Digital Infrastructure pushed the number of towers to over 7,500, representing the upper threshold of its divestment plan. The agreement entails the sale and leaseback of 447 towers, generating gross proceeds of P5.4 billion to be paid in tranches.
“At the moment I think we have upped our tower sale. We will see if there are any more opportunistic transactions for the balance year but the fact that we’re at 7,509 is already over our target,” Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said.
Including the Unity deal, the gross proceeds for all tower transactions has already reached P96.322 billion. To date, Globe has successfully transferred 44 percent or 3,120 assets of the 7,059 acquired by tower companies, yielding approximately P40.5 billion.
The tower sale proceeds will fund Globe’s capital expenditure investments and help improve the company’s financial standing.
Globe earlier raised P11 billion from four towers sold to Phil-Tower Consortium, Inc. An additional 132 towers worth approximately P2 billion in the Visayas and Mindanao were transferred to PhilTower. Globe has successfully turned over 710 of 1,350 towers and its commitment to construct 750 more across the Visayas and Mindanao.
Aside from PhilTower, MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC) has received 39 percent of the 2,180 towers and related passive telecom infrastructure under the initial Globe portfolio. Frontier Tower Associates Philippines (FTAP) has received 44 percent of the second portfolio, which consisted of 3,529 towers.
Globe plans to keep its strategically important towers for its own operations. By focusing on these towers, the company enhances its operational efficiency, ensure reliable service for its customers and strengthen its overall performance.
