Gov't to sell ETPI stake to Ongpin group this month

The government will be selling its 10.2 percent stake in Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. to ISM Communications Corp. of former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin. ETPI is the country’s oldest phone company. Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi, who is also head of the inter-agency Privatization Council, told reporters that the PChas agreed to sell its remaining interest in ETPI to ISM through a negotiated sale. The negotiations for the government's 2.652 million class A shares or 10.52 percent in ETPI, Legaspi said, would be finished within the month. Legaspi explained that ETPI's articles of incorporation gives the company and its stockholders a right of first refusal, and the chance to match the highest bid to be tendered by interested investors. ISM currently owns 67.5 percent of ETPI, after it purchased 2.5 million class A shares of the firm from Smart Communications Corp. last October. Last November, the Department of Finance declared a failed bidding for the government’s stake in ETPI because there were no bidders. The government hopes to raise P29.5 billion from the sale of major government assets this year as it hopes to achieve a balanced budget this year. It raised P8.9 billion from the recent sale of its 9.9-percent stake in Manila Electric Co. to Government Service Insurance System late last month. - GMANews.TV