Globe in ₱1.83-B buyout deal for Bayantel stake

Globe takes over Bayantel. image: Business World Online

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. has reached a buy-out deal worth ₱1.83 billion with the Lopez group that will give the Ayala-led company full control of cash-strapped Bayan Telecommunications, Inc.

The move is seen to help Bayantel completely get out of the doldrums by 2023.

"Globe Telecom, Inc. has agreed to purchase from Bayan Telecommunications Holdings, Corporation (BTHC) and Lopez Holdings, Corporation (LHC) all the equity in the capital stock of Bayan Telecommunications, Inc. that is held by BTHC and LHC, valued at approximately ₱1.83 Billion Php," Globe said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

Globe will boost its control over Bayantel to 98.57% from 56.87%, through a debt-to-equity conversion scheme involving up to 70.76 million shares. The transaction is under Bayantel's rehabilitation plan and was approved by the National Telecommunications Commission on July 2.

Globe already acquired a 38% interest in Bayantel in October 2013 after the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 158 approved the amended rehabilitation plan jointly filed by the companies, where Globe converted Bayantel's debt into common shares, according to the listed telecommunication firm's 2014 annual report.

Globe, as a principal creditor, had planned to further convert a portion of the $423.3-million debt, so it can hike its stake to as high as 56.6%.

"The debt-to-equity conversion transaction between Globe and Bayan will precisely enable the latter's continued viability as a service provider, allowing it to exit rehabilitation and enhance its current service offering to the public," Globe's General Legal Counsel Froilan M. Castelo had said in a July 3 mobile phone reply.

"Globe will certainly add value to Bayantel, bringing financial and technical support and synergies, as well as experience and our own culture of innovation," he added.

Globe had said it can address "increasing demand" for voice, short message, and mobile data services through the joint use of frequencies originally assigned to Bayantel. In return, Bayantel would be able to offer mobile telecommunications.

Globe shares added ₱16 or 0.63% to close at ₱2,544 apiece on Tuesday. - Business World Online

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Singer Chris Brown barred from leaving Philippines amid contract dispute

Singer Chris Brown is shown at a party on April 10 in Bermuda Dunes, California. image: CNN

Manila, Philippines (CNN)Award-winning U.S. singer Chris Brown has been barred from leaving the Philippines because of a contract dispute, the official Philippines News Agency reported Wednesday.

Brown was stopped Wednesday morning while preparing to depart on a private jet from Manila's international airport on his way to Hong Kong for a concert, the news agency said.

The Philippine Department of Justice said that an order had been issued Tuesday night to stop any attempts by Brown, 26, to leave the country.

Brown performed a concert that evening as planned, but the order was put in place to compel him to pay back money that promoters said was owed to them after he failed to appear for a previous appearance scheduled for last New Year's Eve.

That concert was supposed to take place at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, north of Manila.

The Bureau of Immigration said Brown and his promoter John Michael Pio Roda were both subject to an immigration lookout bulletin, but they could seek a clearance certificate that could allow them to leave if the Department of Justice consented.

It's not the first time that the chart-topping star has run into trouble with authorities.

A few months after Billboard named him Artist of the Year, Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna -- another popular singer -- inside a rented Lamborghini on the eve of the Grammy Awards in February 2009. He pleaded guilty that June to one felony assault count, after which he was put on probation for five years, ordered to serve 180 days of labor-oriented service and made to take a yearlong domestic violence class.

He made a public apology but didn't stay out of trouble. In 2012, he had an altercation with rapper Drake at a New York club. The next year, a woman accused Brown of shoving her at a club in Anaheim, California, bringing an assault and battery claim; he was accused of committing a hit-and-run in Los Angeles; and he was accused of felony assault after an incident outside a W Hotel in Washington.

Those incidents added up, along with a positive marijuana test and prosecutors' claim that Brown didn't finish his court-mandated community labor. He entered rehab in 2013 to "gain insight into his past and recent behavior," his representative said, only to get kicked out of the facility for smashing his mother's car window during a family session, according to his probation officer.

Brown entered another rehab facility, only to leave in 2014. He was then taken into custody by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after a judge revoked his probation. He was released from jail in June 2014.

Last week, the artist was the apparent victim of crime after armed intruders burst into his Southern California home and locked his aunt in a closet, according to police. - CNN

Journalist Arlene Espiritu reported from Manila and Merieme Arif from Atlanta, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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