PSE Circular for Brokers No. 2336-99

September 17, 1999 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 2336-99 September 16, 1999 The Philippine Stock Exchange Listing and Disclosure Group 4/F, Philippine Stock Exchange Centre Exchange Road, Ortigas Center Pasig City Attention: Ms . Grace de Guia Disclosure Department Ladies and Gentlemen : We write to you in connection with the article which appeared on Bloomberg on September 16, 1999 captioned "PLDT to Complete Details of $300 Min Share Sale in a Few Weeks", to correct certain erroneous impressions conveyed by the report. As disclosed previously, the Company is negotiating the definitive agreements pertaining to the acquisition of the shares in Smart Communications, Inc. ("Smart") of First Pacific Company Limited and certain of its subsidiaries and Philippine affiliates and of NTT Telecommunications Corporation ("NTT"), and the strategic investment by NTT in PLDT. It is envisaged that signing of the agreements will take place, after the required corporate approvals shall have been obtained, within a few weeks time. The definitive agreements referred to by Mr. Young in the Bloomberg report actually relate to the acquisition of Smart and the subscription for new PLDT shares by NTT. The plan of the Company to raise new equity capital, in addition to that which is proposed to be injected by NTT (approximately P14.7 billion), is still under study. cdll Please be assured that the Company will make appropriate disclosure to the Exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission and the investing public of the principal terms agreed by the parties, forthwith upon signing of the definitive agreements. Thank you and kind regards. Very truly yours, (SGD.) MA. LOURDES C. RAUSA-CHAN Corporate Secretary BS 20:09 PLDT to Complete Details of $300 Mln Share Sale in a Few Weeks PLDT to Complete Details of $300 Mln Share Sale in a Few Weeks Singapore, Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the country's largest phone company, said it expects to wrap up details of a planned $300 million sale of new shares in the next few weeks. llcd The company, known a PLDT, said in June it would sell shares to bolster its finances and head off a possible credit-rating downgrade. "We're trying to negotiate the final details of the definitive agreements, which we hope to do over the next few weeks," Christopher H. Young, PLDT's chief financial adviser, said in an interview in Singapore. PLDT said it hoped to complete the sale, the second part of a two-step process to raise up to $700 million in fresh capital, in early 2000. The first part of the capital increase will be completed by the fourth quarter of 1999, when Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the world's largest phone company, is set to acquire PLDT shares. Standard & Poor's Corp. put PLDT on its watch list for a possible credit rating downgrade last November because of concern about debts it ran up in expanding its network. S&P said it may remove PLDT, now carrying a BB+ rating, from the watch list when NTT completes the purchase of a 15 percent stake. The partnership with NTT would boost the business of PLDT, S&P said. When First Pacific Co. took over PLDT in November, the Hong Kong holding company had said it would bring in a foreign partner to provide better technology, and fold Smart Communications Inc., the nation's No. 1 mobile phone company, into PLDT. Young said agreements for Smart Communications will also be signed during the next few weeks. He said, "If that's achieved, we're able to close the transaction some time in the first quarter." Linus Chua in the Singapore newsroom (65) 438-8530 and Alex B. Reyes in the Manila bureau (632) 849-7101/mmd Story illustration: Type TEL PM <Equity> GPO D <Go> to graph PLDT's stock performance. Company news: TEL PM <Equity> PLDT 142 HK <Equity> First Pacific SCIZ PM <Equity> Smart 9432 JP <Equity> NTT News by category: