PLDT Inc.'s planned purchase of ABS-CBN Corp.'s Sky Cable will no longer push through, both firms announced on Thursday.

The P6.75-billion deal, the latest attempt by businessman Manuel Pangilinan to purchase the Lopez-owned cable business, was expected to have been completed next month.

Competition authorities cleared the transaction in January and Sky Cable subscribers had already been notified that cable TV services would end on Monday, February 26.

No explanation was given. In separate disclosures, PLDT and ABS-CBN only said that they had "mutually decided not to proceed with the sale of Sky Cable to PLDT under the Sale and Purchase Agreement signed by and among the parties in March 2023."

ABS-CBN said that Sky Cable's cable TV services would continue and that its internet broadband service, SKYFiber, "remains unaffected."

The deal was expected to expand PLDT's broadband reach and allow ABS-CBN to rationalize its business and pay off debts.

In announcing the planned sale in March 2023, the Pangilinan-led telco said, "The proposed transaction is aligned with PLDT's mission to narrow the digital divide by expanding broadband connectivity, and supports the government's push to expand the nation's digital infrastructure."

ABS-CBN, meanwhile, then said that it was "a strategic decision resulting from, among other things, the significant capital expenditure requirements of Sky Cable to maintain its competitiveness."

Proceeds from the sale would have also allowed Sky Cable shareholder SkyVision to settle its debts to ABS-CBN, which the broadcast firm would then use to "settle and fund its retirement obligations."

"The sale of the company's ownership in Sky will also allow ABS-CBN to focus its resources on content creation," it added.

Asked to comment, China Bank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo Colet said the news had caught "many in the market... off guard."

"ABS-CBN should promptly explain this to their shareholders and what the company plans to do with Sky Cable moving forward," he added.

"It's also important for them to explain how they will manage their debt load, considering that the deal was supposed to pay off loans."

Pangilinan, who also owns TV5 and the Cignal TV cable business, had previously sought to buy Sky Cable in 2020 but abandoned the bid due to competition concerns.

He revived the bid in 2022 via a deal that would have also seen ABS-CBN taking a stake in TV5.

Political pressures, however — the Lopez-owned network had lost its franchise two years earlier in a dispute with then-president Rodrigo Duterte — led to both parties deciding against pushing through with the transaction.

Thursday's announcement failed to dent PLDT's share price, which rose by P10 or 0.78 percent to P1,298.

ABS-CBN's shares, however, fell by 13 centavos or 3.02 percent to P4.17 apiece.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index ended the day basically flat, rising by just 0.08 percent.

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