Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) company has clarified that its proposed acquisition of the broadband business of Sky Cable has yet to be approved by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
This comes after multiple media reports stated that the PCC has approved PLDT’s acquisition of Sky Cable for PHP6.75b.
In a recent stock filing by PLDT, the company clarified that PCC has yet to conclude its review process of the proposed merger.
“Once the approval of the PCC is obtained, the sellers will continue to work on the other closing conditions which include, among others, the termination or cessation of Sky’s pay TV and cable businesses, obtaining all other applicable government approvals and clearances, and obtaining all required consents and corporate actions,” PLDT said.
Moreover, the company said that obtaining the closing conditions for the acquisition is necessary for the implementation of the proposed transaction.
Details about the merger first came into light when ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, signed an agreement with PLDT back in March 2023 to sell off fully the business to PLDT.
“The proceeds from the sale of the shares of ABS-CBN and the settlement of Sky Vision’s obligations to ABS-CBN will be used by ABS-CBN to settle and fund its retirement obligations. The sale of the company’s ownership in Sky will also allow ABS-CBN to focus its resources on content creation,” ABS-CBN back then.
It is also worth noting that Cignal, the media firm under PLDT’s MediaQuest affiliate, had already a 34.99% stake in Sky Cable, which materialised back in 2022.
