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Macquarie Is Said to Weigh Philippine Telco Tower Firm Sale

Rocacorba Emitting Center (Girona)Rural center, offering service to public and private televisions and radios as well as mobile phone operators and security and emergency bodies in Catalonia (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Macquarie Capital is considering selling its stake in one of the largest independent telecommunication tower companies in the Philippines, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The advisory, capital markets and investing arm of Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd. is working with a financial adviser on the potential divestment, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private. A deal could value the Philippine entity, created from the recent combination of PhilTower Consortium Inc. and Miescor Infrastructure Development Corp., at $700 million to $800 million, two of the people said. 

Macquarie Capital owns about 45% in the combined firm, one of the people said. The new company doesn’t yet have an official name.

Other infrastructure-focused funds and industry peers have shown preliminary interest in acquiring the stake, the people said. Deliberations are ongoing and Macquarie could opt to keep its holding, they said.

A representative for Macquarie declined to comment.

The Philippine firm has more than 3,300 operational towers and over 2,100 committed orders, according to a September press release on Macquarie’s website. Other shareholders of the company include Stonepeak, Manila Electric Company, also known as Meralco, and Global Network Inc.

Macquarie Group has been operating in the Philippines for more than 20 years and has more than 1,000 employees in the country. Macquarie Capital has a growing focus on sectors such as energy transition and digital infrastructure.

--With assistance from Cliff Venzon.

(Adds Macquarie Capital stake in the business in third paragraph.)

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