GMA7 AND PLDT SHARES FELL AMIDST PENDING NEWS ON TV5-GMA MERGER!

PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the telco is prepared to seal a deal to acquire the broadcaster within the deadline earlier given by GMA Network Chairman Felipe L. Gozon.

“We have an appreciation of that deadline,” Mr. Pangilinan said, noting however that this excludes delays that may be posed by regulators.

“We can agree, but if somebody else approves the transaction, it’s beyond our control,” said Mr. Pangilinan, who nodded when reporters asked if funding for the acquisition is at hand.

Mr. Pangilinan said last month that his camp has moved to approach banks for funding.

PLDT was also seen selling off assets, such as its 26% stake in PhilWeb Corp.

Mr. Gozon last week said Mr. Pangilinan’s camp is now the sole party negotiating with GMA Network after interests of other companies in the TV network fizzled out.

If no agreement will be reached, Mr. Gozon said he would continue running the company, which has challenged Lopez-led ABS-CBN Corp. in the TV ratings game in the past decade.

Mr. Pangilinan said in March that the company remained to be interested in GMA after several attempts to make an investment in the TV network in the past years.

He had said that aside from being profitable, GMA Network’s content could help PLDT prepare for the anticipated convergence of telco and media platforms.

Mr. Pangilinan already runs TV5 and has interests in several local broadsheets, including BusinessWorld, through Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc.

Mr. Gozon had said that major shareholders of GMA -- the Gozons, Duavits, and the Jimenezes -- were willing to sell their combined 75% stake in the company at the “right price.”

In the meantime, Mr. Gozon had said the company is on track to meet the P2.8-P3 billion profit guidance for this year, with favorable indications beginning June.

So far, the company had booked P388 million in profits in the first quarter, down by 27% from P533.6 million in the same period last year.

The broadcaster’s consolidated revenues fell by 6% to P2.56 billion from P2.69 billion last year which was largely blamed on the period as lean month exacerbated by “the protracted crises in the global markets.”

Total operating expenses rose by 3% to P2.046 billion from P1.989 billion in the same period last year on “increase in talent fees and salaries and other employee benefits.”

Shares of GMA Network fell by 0.96% to P10.30 apiece yesterday while those of PLDT also dropped by 1.09% to P2,728 apiece at the close of trading. -- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon

SOURCE