Telstra Corp., Australia’s biggest phone company, is in talks with the Philippines’s San Miguel Corp. about investing in a wireless joint venture (JV) in the Southeast Asian country.
“No agreements have been reached in relation to these matters, and there is no certainty” that a deal will occur, Telstra said in a regulatory statement on Friday. The Melbourne-based company was selecting banks for expansion in the Philippines, according to a headline on subscriber-only website TMT Finance.
San Miguel, the Philippines’s largest company with investments spanning food, packaging, energy and beer, said last month it would pay P5.75 billion ($123 million) for a 51-percent stake in Liberty Telecoms
Holdings Inc.
Telstra CEO Andy Penn has described Asia as a key part of his growth strategy, and the company spent $697 million last year buying Pacnet Ltd. to gain access to its undersea cables connecting Asia and the Pacific.