Globe Telecom said Friday it borrowed P7 billion from a local bank to partly finance capital spending in 2016.
Globe, the telecom unit of Ayala Corp., said it signed a 10-year P7-billion term loan facility with Union Bank of the Philippines which would be used to finance the company’s capital expenditures.
The company budgeted P35.4 billion for capex this year, of which P17 billion was already spent in the first half to support the growing subscriber base and increasing appetite for data.
Globe’s capex this year would mostly be invested in data-related projects, including long-term evolution technology for mobile and home, capacity and coverage augmentation of 3G and HSPA+, modernization of fixed-line data infrastructure and requirements for transmission facilities.
Globe chief commercial officer Alberto De Larrazabal earlier said the 2016 capex might increase by $10 million to finance the rollout of more cell sites using the frequencies it acquired from San Miguel Corp.
De Larrazabal said there would be a natural increase in spending in the third and fourth quarters, to roll out more cell sites using the 700 megahertz, 1800 Mhz and 2600 Mhz.
Globe early this month signed a 12-year and 15-year P20-billion term loan facility arranged by First Metro Investment Corp., with Metrobank as lender to finance the acquisition of 50-percent equity interest in Vega Telecom Inc., Bow Arken Holdings Company Inc. and Brightshare Holdings Corp.
The other half of the equity of VTI, BAHC and BHC is to be acquired by PLDT Inc.
The total enterprise valuation of the three companies was estimated at P70 billion, including total liabilities of P17.2 billion.
The equity value amounts to P52.8 billion, which translated into an agreed consideration of P26.4 billon for Globe’s 50-percent equity stakes in the companies.
Globe earlier reported a net income of P8.97 billion in the January-to-June period, up from P8.71 billion a year ago.
Core net income, which excludes the impact of non- recurring charges, foreign exchange gains and mark-to-market charges rose 2 percent year-on-year to P8.8 billion.