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(Bloomberg) -- PLDT Inc. is interested in acquiring KKR & Co.’s stake in its fintech affiliate in a move that could allow the top Philippine telecom company retake control of the now-profitable business.
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“It looks like Maya is starting to turn the corner. We’d be keen to increase our stake,” PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel Pangilinan told reporters on Thursday.
PLDT reported its 2024 net income rose 21% to 32.3 billion pesos ($558 million) as Maya Innovations Holdings became profitable in December, backed by the strong performance of its digital banking arm.
PLDT founded Maya — formerly called Voyager Innovations — in 2013 and owns about 38% of the company. KKR holds a stake of around 30%.
The global fund, which first invested in the fintech group in 2018, is “scanning the market for values for Maya,” Pangilinan said. “We’d be a buyer of whatever might be available,” he said.
Retaking control of Maya would allow PLDT to have more say in the company that’s facing growing competition with bigger rival GCash. Backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, GCash has dominated mobile payments in the Philippines and is working to build its banking business, an area of focus for Maya.
Along with PLDT and KKR, other investors in Maya include PLDT parent First Pacific Co., Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and the World Bank’s International Finance Corp.
Pangilinan also said PLDT is in talks with a foreign investor for the sale of a minority stake in its data center unit after negotiations with CVC Capital Partners ended without a deal. He declined to identify the prospective buyer.
He earlier valued PLDT’s data center business at over $1 billion and a partial sale would help the group cut its debt. The company may sell some property assets if efforts to find an investor for the data center business fail.
“Compared to data centers around the region, we’re modest sized. We want to grow that so that we achieve the right timing for the right valuation for our data centers and not pre-sell it ahead of its time,” he said.
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