MANILA (Reuters) – Private equity firm KKR & Co will invest $400 million in telecoms tower operations and expansion in the Philippines, the U.S. Department of Commerce said on Wednesday, among a slew of deals in a $1 billion investment announced in a landmark trade mission.
KKR will develop and acquire roughly 2,000 telecoms towers to support digital connectivity across the Philippines, the department said in a statement following a two-day trade and investment mission led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
In 2022, a unit of KKR acquired 3,529 telecoms towers for 45 billion pesos ($814.73 million) in a sale and leaseback deal with Philippines’ Globe Telecom Inc. The KKR unit bought another 1,012 towers for over 12.1 billion pesos from PLDT Inc.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced American investments of more than $1 billion in the Philippines during the trade mission that included executives from 22 companies including United Airlines, Alphabet’s Google, Visa, and Microsoft.
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