THE PHILIPPINE Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has appealed to the regional trial court (RTC) of Makati City to be allowed to leave its court-assisted corporate rehabilitation to proceed with its operations.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange late on Tuesday, the telco company said it filed a request to the Makati RTC on Monday to exit rehabilitation, given that it will be subjected to the requirements as outlined in the approved Rehabilitation Plan.
“Part of the compliance is for PT&T to conduct a stockholders’ meeting to increase its authorized capital stock. This will enable PT&T to pay its debts through debt-to-equity conversion as mandated by the approved Rehabilitation Plan,” it said.
PT&T is currently lobbying for its 14-year rehabilitation plan for its P8.8-billion debt at the Supreme Court. The rehabilitation plan was reversed in a decision by the Court of Appeals in May 2017. But in its recent appeal, it said it wants to leave the program.
“The exit from rehab is well within the plan of our new shareholders and another proof point that PT&T is serious in it’s intention to be a major player in the Philippines telecommunications industry,” PT&T president and chief executive officer James G. Velasquez said in a statement on Wednesday.
The telco company, which was once PLDT, Inc.’s biggest rival in the telco industry, has expressed its interest to participate in the government’s search for the so-called “third telco player.”
“PT&T’s exit from receivership enables the company to raise additional capital in the stock market to fund our expansion plans, both in fixed broadband and beyond,” PT&T chief operations officer Miguel Marco A. Bitanga said in the statement.
In March, the company signed an agreement with state-owned National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) to allow for the use of the government’s national fiber optic backbone facility.
PT&T has scheduled its annual stockholders’ meeting on Sept. 14. — Denise A. Valdez
