Is SingTel taking over its subsidiary, Globe Telecom?

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest phone company, agreed to pay S$141.4 million ($104 million) for 3.8 million shares of the Philippines' Globe Telecom, as it seeks to increase overseas revenue.

The acquisition will raise the company's stake in Manila- based Globe to 47.34 percent from 44.47 percent, Singapore Telecom said in a statement. It bought the stake from Ayala, which owned 33.3 percent of Globe before the deal, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Singapore Telecom has invested in companies in India, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia to increase revenue, because its home market already has more mobile-phone subscriptions than people. Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said this month that SingTel is in talks with Chinese companies about a potential investment.

Ayala plans to reinvest the 4.6 billion pesos from the sale in its electronic manufacturing and outsourcing businesses, it said in a statement. Manila-based Ayala also owns the nation's largest bank by market value and the largest builder.

“Our value as a holding company lies in our ability to re- allocate and turn over capital in order to start new investment cycles,” Ayala Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jaime August Zobel de Ayala said in a statement.

SingTel fell 2 Singapore cents, or 0.5 percent, to S$3.68 as of 1:59 p.m. on the Singapore stock exchange. The stock has lost 8 percent this year, compared with a 15 percent loss for the benchmark Straits Timex Index.

Globe, the second-largest Philippine phone company, has declined 24.8 percent this year, compared with a 32 percent drop in the main Philippine Stock Exchange Index. The stock fell 0.4 percent to 1,180 pesos as of the noon close of trading in Manila.

Does SingTel’s recent acquisition of Globe shares along with other shares from the region indicative of interest in controlling the mobile phone market in Asia?