Ayala Corp. sells Globe shares to SingTel

MANILA, Philippines -Saying that it would be investing more in its business process outsourcing and electronics manufacturing businesses, Ayala Corp., the country’s biggest business group, sold a portion of its shares in Globe Telecom to Singapore Telecom International Pte. Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest telecommunications company. In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala Corp. said it disposed of 3.8 million common shares of Globe to SingTel at P1,210 per share or a total of P4.6 billion. On Friday Globe shares closed 0.4219 percent lower at P1,180. The sale of the shares translated to SingTel's ownership of common shares in Globe from 44.5 percent to 47.3 percent; and its voting rights from 20.2 percent to 21.5 percent. Ayala Corp., on the other hand, will still own 30.5 percent and the public at 22 percent of Globe's common shares. Ayala Corp. said it plans to re-invest the amount to its business process outsourcing businesses and in its electronic manufacturing unit Integrated Microelectronics Inc. "Our value as a holding company lies in our ability to re-allocate and turn over capital in order to start new investment cycles," said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. chairman and CEO. Ayala Corp. had set up LiveIT in 2006 to be its holding company for its investments in the business process outsourcing sector. The conglomerate also has a stake in Philippine-based contact center operator eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. SingTel's main operations are in Singapore and Australia, through wholly-owned subsidiary Singtel Optus. Besides Globe Telecom, other major investments of SingTel include Advanced Info Service in Thailand, Bharti Telecom Group in India, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom in Bangladesh, Telkomsel in Indonesia and Warid Telecom in Pakistan. SingTel has around 185 million mobile customer base in Asia outside China. GMANews.tv