DITO CME Holdings Corp., parent firm of Dito Telecommunity Corp., yesterday said it has raised P3.3 billion from a private placement with its existing shareholder, Summit Telco Holdings Corp.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, DITO CME said its board entered into a private placement transaction with Summit Telco Holdings, a Philippine registered firm wholly owned by Summit Telco Corp. Pte. Ltd., for the subscription of 3.3 billion voting common shares for the total consideration of P3.3 billion at P1 per share.
Last Friday, DITO CME’s board of directors approved the issuance of 3.3 billion common shares of the corporation out of its unissued authorized capital stock.
“As a result of the issuance, the total number of issued and outstanding shares of the corporation increased from 16.2 billion to 19.5 billion,” DITO CME said.
Last August, DITO CME raised P2.2 billion to support the expansion of telco unit Dito.
The company issued 610 million common shares to Singapore-based Xterra Venture Pte. Ltd. and another 1.590 billion was issued to Summit Telco Corp. The shares were sold at P1 per share.
This year, Dito has earmarked P27 billion for capital expenditure (capex) and is expected to allocate the same budget for next year to continue its expansion.
Dito’s capex is part of its P257 billion committed investment with the government for a five-year period to achieve a minimum internet speed of 55 megabits per second (Mbps) and further expand its coverage.
Dito passed the government’s fourth technical audit after it delivered a national population coverage of 80.65 percent and combined minimum average broadband speed (MABS) of 357.14 Mbps which are above the required 80.01 percent and 55 Mbps for network coverage and speed, respectively.
