Philippine Daily Inquirer
9:17 am | Thursday, October 4th, 2012
Manuel V. Pangilinan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s latest bid to acquire a controlling stake in local broadcasting firm GMA Network Inc. has bogged down.
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. group disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday that MediaQuest Holdings Inc., an investee company of the PLDT Retirement Fund, has terminated recent discussions with the major shareholders of GMA Network.
“The parties have been unable to arrive at mutually acceptable terms despite the continual discussions and efforts exerted in good faith,” the PLDT disclosure said, without discussing what the deal-breaker was.
Industry sources said the termination had nothing to do with Pangilinan’s recent threat to relocate back to Hong Kong or pull out investments in the Philippines, noting that discussions hit stumbling blocks even before that.
Biz Buzz reported in early September that after moving close to an acceptable pricing of about P52.5 billion (enterprise value for 100 percent of GMA-7), a potential deal-breaker was the amount of advance payment that sellers wanted Pangilinan’s group to lay on the table ahead of congressional approval to consummate the deal.
Knowing that the deal may encounter rough sailing among regulators, Pangilinan’s group was not willing to shell out a big amount that could be forfeited if regulators would oppose the deal.
Last August, GMA7 chairman Felipe Gozon told reporters that the discussions with Pangilinan’s group would either terminate or go through within this year. If a deal doesn’t push through, he had said the current owners of GMA7 were “ready, prepared and willing to continue running” the company.
Gozon, for his part, has been at the helm of GMA7 for 12 years.
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Tags: acquisition , Business , GMA 7 , Manny V. Pangilinan , media , merger , takeover , Television
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