Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) recently inked two term loan facility agreements amounting to Php 77 billion, enabling the sale of PLDT's telecom towers to international tower operators, ComWorks Infratech Corp. (CIC) and ISOC edotco Towers, Inc.
In a statement, BPI said this tower sale "represents the largest cross-border acquisition in the technology, media and telecommunications space in the Philippines and the largest acquisition of assets in the country by international investors."
CIC was awarded 2,934 towers in Luzon, while ISOC edotco with 2,973 tower assets in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, according to BPI.
According to the edotco Group, this financing will allow the group to "future-proof" the country's digital economy infrastructure. This move underscores the government's efforts to improve connectivity in the country by co-locating facilities especially in the underserved and unserved areas.
BPI Capital Corp. served as the mandated lead arranger, while BPI Asset Management and Trust Corp. was the facility and security agent for both loan facilities. SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) acted as counsel to the mandated lead arranger and the lender for each of the loan facilities.
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