Thursday, June 21, 2007 NTT to raise stake in PLDT
JAPAN'S largest telephone company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), plans to increase its shareholdings in the Philippines’ largest phone operator, signalling determination to boost profits by investing in high-growth Asian markets.
The Financial Times (FT) in the United Kingdom reported that NTT DoCoMo, NTT’s mobile arm and biggest subsidiary by revenue, had announced a “goal” to build its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) from just above 15 percent to at least 20 percent, worth about $2 billion.
The FT said a 20-percent stake would allow DoCoMo to put its earnings from the much more profitable PLDT to its own account by making the Philippine company an affiliate under the US accounting rules used by DoCoMo.
DoCoMo said this was an important reason for building its share.
The announcement comes less than a week after DoCoMo’s president Masao Nakamura told the FT that he planned to expand abroad to counter the saturation of Japan’s mobile market.
DoCoMo already has almost nine percent share in PLDT, and sister company NTT Communications, the technology services provider, holds almost seven percent. (LAP)
