Philippine telecom giant and digital solutions platform Globe has raised approximately 17 billion pesos (about $293 million) from its stock rights offering (SRO) that received shareholder support, the company announced.
The Ayala-led telco formally listed 10,119,047 common shares newly issued to participating shareholders on the Philippine Stock Exchange on October 28 at 1,680 pesos per share.
Ayala Corporation, the oldest and largest conglomerate in the Philippines, and Singapore Telecom International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singtel, exercised their pre-emptive rights to subscribe to their respective pro-rata share in the offer.
Ayala and Singtel are Globe’s principal shareholders.
Globe said it will use the proceeds of the offer to partly fund its capital expenditure (capex) for 2022 and pay its short-term debt obligations. It also plans to further expand its digital ecosystem.
For the year, Globe has allotted 89 billion pesos for its capex, with the target of building at least 1,700 new cell sites nationwide.
“We are overwhelmed by the support shown by our shareholders for this offer. This support reflects trust in the capability of Globe to execute our core business and digital service platform initiatives,” said Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu.
The company has recently invested in fintech, healthtech, edtech, entertainment, adtech, e-commerce, manpower, and IT services as part of its digital pivot.
Globe is also part of a consortium of telcos that agreed to invest about $300 million in a submarine cable system in Southeast Asia that aims to boost data capacity in the region.
The group is composed of China Telecom Global Limited of China, Globe and DITO Telecommunity Corporation (DITO) of the Philippines, Singtel of Singapore, and Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd of Brunei Darussalam.
In September, Globe signed a deal to sell 1,350 telecom towers located in central and southern Philippines for about $340 million. Globe has so far sold a total of 7,059 towers, raising 91 billion pesos as it offloads passive assets.