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The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Group, through its subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) has completed its acquisition of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) share Tuesday after noon.

The transaction, which was executed through a special block sale executed at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), was worth P20.07 and gave Piltel a 20 percent stake at the country’s largest power-utility firms. It involved 223 million common shares at P20 each.

With its acquisition, Piltel will cease to be a telecommunications company and will become a holding unit for the stake in the power retailer. “Piltel completed the acquisition of the common shares representing approximately 20 percent of the outstanding common stock of Meralco from the First Philippine Utilities Corp., formerly known as First Philippine Union Formosa Inc.,” Piltel said.

Aside from Piltel, Beneficial Trust Fund (BTF), the pension fund of PLDT, is also holding a 10.2 percent stake at Meralco which brings PLDT’s share in the power company to 30.2 percent. “We have more than 30 percent in Meralco excluding the 13.4 percent held by the Lopez family,” PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan and the Lopezes have formed an alliance to face the threat of competition being ushered in by conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) who is also venturing into the telecommunications industry. With the completed transaction, the PLDT-Lopez bloc would have a combined stake of about 44 percent, while SMC is holding a 34-percent stake.

The funding for the said investment in Meralco, according to Pangilinan, was sourced from internally generated funds and borrowings combined. He said PLDT’s cash flow was strong, particularly for the first five months, and added that profit and revenue for the six months of the year are “looking better and are ahead of last year.”