MANILA - Smart Communications Inc. may not be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) anytime soon even if it has acquired all assets of sister firm Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel).

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said now is not the time to list Smart at the local bourse because this might come at the expense of the parent company.

"(Smart) is more profitable than the parent (PLDT). So people might gravitate more to Smart than the parent. We want to avoid that, at least for now," he told reporters at the sidelines of Piltel's annual stockholders' meeting on Tuesday. At present, Pangilinan said Smart accounts for about 60 percent of PLDT's revenues.

Stockholders representing at least two-thirds of Piltel's outstanding shares approved today the sale and transfer of the company's cellular assets, subscriber base, and Talk 'N Text brand to Smart. Piltel will then cease to be a telecommunications company to become the holding firm of the PLDT group for its 20-percent stake in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) worth P20.07 billion.

The sale of Piltel's Talk 'N Text trademark amounted to P8 billion, while the transfer of its subscriber base and products to Smart would cost P73 per subscriber. The company had over 15.6 million subscribers as of end-March, putting the subscriber acquisition cost at P1.139 billion.

On the other hand, the sale of Piltel's GSM fixed assets had a net book value of P2.37 billion.

Smart, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PLDT, already owns 92.81 percent of Piltel, and is set to acquire the remaining 7.2-percent stake in the cellular firm to further solidify its position in the country's telecommunications sector. The company made an offer of P8.50 per share, payable in cash and in full to Piltel's minority stockholders by August 12, 2009.

The tender offer period will run from July 1 to July 29.