After concluding a large agreement with Unity Digital Infrastructure, Globe has surpassed its goals for tower sales. According to the deal, 447 towers will be sold and taken back, bringing in a total of P5.4 billion, which would be paid out in installments as is the case with other tower portfolios.
Globe has been actively selling its non-strategic infrastructure since last year, with an aim to offload 7,000 towers in what may be the largest-ever sale and leaseback transaction in the Philippines. The most recent deal with Unity raised the figure to above 7,500, which signifies the cap of its divestiture strategy.
“At the moment I think we have upped our tower sale. We will see if there are any more opportunistic transactions for the balance year but the fact that we’re at 7,509 is already over our target,” Globe Chief Finance Officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said at a recent briefing when asked if Globe plans to sell more towers.
The total gross profits from all tower deals, including the Unity purchase, have risen to P96.322 billion. Out of the 7,059 assets purchased by tower firms so far, Globe has successfully transferred 44%, or 3,120, netting almost P40.5 billion.
Globe will invest the earnings from the sale of the tower in capital projects, helping to strengthen the company’s financial position. Through the successful closing of four tower sales with Phil-Tower Consortium, Inc. (PhilTower), the business previously raised P11 billion. A total of 132 more towers in the Visayas and Mindanao were transferred to PhilTower as part of this milestone, costing about P2 billion. In addition to PhilTower’s vow to build 750 more towers throughout the Visayas and Mindanao areas, Globe has successfully handed over 710 of the 1,350 towers that it had built.
Apart from PhilTower, 39% of the 2,180 towers and associated passive telecom infrastructure included in the first Globe portfolio have been awarded to MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC). The second portfolio, which included 3,529 towers, was given to Frontier Tower Associates Philippines (FTAP) for 44% of the price.
