Philippine telco PLDT has cancelled plans to sell a minority stake in its data center subsidiary Vitro.

Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT’s chair, told the Inquirer the telco had ended talks with prospective buyers, saying: “I think it is best to try to build the business.”

Prospective partners had included American private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, Japanese telco NTT, and an unnamed “potential investor.”

Vitro was established as a subsidiary of ePLDT in 2000, which in turn is the ICT subsidiary of PLDT.

A partial sale would have raised funds for Pangilinan’s ambitions to “expand [the Philippines’ data center capability for up to 500MW” in order to be “at least equal to the capacity of Malaysia.” These statements were made at the opening ceremony of Vitro’s most recent 50MW facility outside Manila, which was attended by the Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos.

Almost immediately after, PLDT announced a 100MW facility to be located in General Trias, a city south of Manila.

The company has 10 other operational data centers with a combined IT capacity of 63MW, with cable landing stations in Deat, Digos, La Union, and Batangas.

Pangilinan also owns significant stakes in Manila Electric Company, the country’s largest power distributor, and private utility Maynilad Water Services.