PLDT, Philweb close to sealing deal

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PLDT, Philweb close to sealing deal
Posted: 2:18 AM Jan. 31, 2006
Inquirer

INTERNET gaming firm Philweb Corp. said Monday it expected to sign this week an agreement to sell 20 percent of its outstanding shares to ePLDT, the technology unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

"We are in the final stages of our negotiations [with ePLDT] and we expect to sign the MoA [memorandum of agreement] not later than this week," Philweb president Eric Recto said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

Recto said that the price and payment terms for the investment are still being finalized.

Former trade and industry minister Roberto Ongpin controls Philweb.

Recto believes that the company had complied with rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) when it disclosed last Jan. 26 the Philweb board of directors' approval of ePLDT's investment.

A wholly owned unit of PLDT, ePLDT is expected to buy 24 billion shares of Philweb.

Philweb's stock price Monday closed at P0.036, compared with P0.031 on Thursday, when the disclosure was made.

At Monday's closing price, the 24 billion shares would be worth P864 million.

Philweb is seeking clarification from the PSE on what caused PSE president Francis Lim issue a memorandum to stockbrokers on Saturday that called for "caution" on the "misleading disclosure" of Philweb on its impending deal with ePLDT.

The next day, the PSE president issued a revised memo with the words "caution" and "misleading" omitted but carried a reminder for the public "to exercise prudence in making investment decisions."

Recto said Philweb's Jan. 26 disclosure clearly stated that ePLDT had not yet made the investment and that the two companies were still negotiating the terms, including the price of the proposed investment.

"We would like to understand what's driving these somewhat confusing statements from the PSE," Recto said in an interview. "Nothing at this point has been mentioned to us, either in writing or verbally, that we did anything wrong"

He said the PSE even agreed that the statement on the Philweb-ePLDT deal was "a timely disclosure." Clarissa Batino, with INQ7.net

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