PhilTower Consortium and Miescor Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC) have finalized a deal to create an independent tower company in the Philippines.
The new entity, which doesn't appear to have a name as of yet, is owned by investors including Macquarie Capital, Stonepeak, Manila Electric Company (Meralco), and Global Network Inc.
The tower company will own a tower portfolio of more than 3,300 operational towers, plus more than 2,100 in committed orders.
According to Macquarie, which has been a shareholder in PhilTower since 2021, the tower portfolio spans across the country.
The new entity is tasked with improving mobile coverage across the Philippines and driving further investment into the country's digital infrastructure. Mobile network operators Globe, Smart, and Dito are three of the tower companies' main customers.
The transaction has now been approved by the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), while all deal completion conditions have been completed.
“I am confident that the combination of MIDC and PhilTower’s unique strengths and competencies will further digitization objectives in the Philippines as the country’s younger generation continues to drive exponential data consumption," said Devid Gubiani, chief executive officer of the new business and the former CEO of PhilTower.
"The MIDC team’s expertise and portfolio are highly complementary to PhilTower’s, and together with our partners we will have the ability to make a real difference through the delivery of world-class telecoms infrastructure and services to our customers.”
In 2022 PhilTower agreed to acquire 1,350 towers from Globe Telecom in a $340 million deal for the company.
Miescor acquired 2,180 towers from Globe Telecom. The acquisition of the towers was part of an agreement from Globe to sell 5,709 cellular towers, with Frontier scooping up 3,529 towers.