PLDT unit completes purchase of 10% stake in Bayad Center
PLDT Inc. subsidiary DigiCo has completed the acquisition of a 10-percent stake in bills payment provider Bayad Center.
In a disclosure on Thursday, the five-month old company said it had purchased 56,105 common shares of CIS Bayad Center Inc.—a company controlled by another Pangilinan-led company, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)—for P320 million.
The amount was paid on July 31.
“DigiCo’s acquisition of Bayad will enable [the company] to leverage its expertise and resources to support Bayad’s growth trajectory,” PLDT said.
Bayad Center is a payment center, usually in the form of kiosks in malls, where customers pay their various bills from utilities to financial services. It now has a “Bayad Online” to make things more convenient for customers without having to go to physical branches.
PLDT, which is trying to establish a portfolio of digital payment services, also previously announced the acquisition of a 100-percent stake in Multipay, the digital payment channel of Mulitsys Technologies Corp.
These two deals are DigiCo’s first major acquisitions since its formation in March.
PLDT holds a 60-percent stake in DigiCo. Meralco owns 20 percent while Metro Pacific Investments Corp. owns the remaining 20 percent. DigiCo chief commercial officer Kat Luna-Abelarde had said the company was envisioned to “be ‘the app’ for all Filipinos—their default platform for bills, payments and rewards.”In the first quarter, PLDT saw its net income grow by 9 percent to P9.82 billion as gross service revenues climbed 5 percent to P52.2 billion. The bulk or 83 percent of the top line was accounted for by data and broadband revenues, which improved by 5 percent to P40.5 billion.
The telco giant is set to spend this year P75 billion to P78 billion in capital outlays meant for upgrading cell sites, deploying home broadband ports and investing in data centers and submarine cables. INQ
