ABS-CBN and TV 5 have announced that they mutually agreed to terminate their investment deal in a disclosure made to both the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Securities Exchange Commission.
This means the Sale and Purchase Agreement dated August 10, 2022 covering the proposed acquisition by Cignal Cable of 38.88% equity interest in Sky Cable Corporation and the Debt Instruments Agreement covering the proposed subscription by Cignal Cable to an Exchangeable Debt Instrument to be issued by Sky Vision and the proposed acquisition by Cignal Cable of a Convertible Note issued by Sky Cable will no longer be pushing through.
“The termination was formalized through a Memorandum of Agreement. The Parties confirmed that they have not implemented any of the transactions covered by the Sale and Purchase Agreement and the Debt Instruments Agreement,” the Kapamilya network said in a statement on Thursday.
The company did not gave any reason for the mutual scrapping of the deal to buy into TV5 Network.
In another disclosure, the TV5 Network, Inc. (“TV5”) and ABS-CBN Corporation (“ABS-CBN”) also announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate the Investment Agreement dated 10 August 2022 covering the proposed acquisition by ABS-CBN of 34.99% equity interest in TV5 and the Convertible Note Agreement dated 10 August 2022 covering the proposed subscription by ABS-CBN.
“The termination was also formalized through a Memorandum of Agreement. The Parties confirmed that they have not implemented any of the transactions covered by the Investment Agreement and the Convertible Note Agreement,” the statement added.
The mutual decision came after a probe was launched by the House of Representatives to determine whether there are laws violated by the deal.
Earlier in August, ABS-CBN and TV5 paused the acquisition deal to allot time to respond to questions raised by lawmakers.
The National Telecommunications warned the two parties that they must secure clearances from concerned government agencies before they can proceed with the deal.
ABS-CBN lost its congressional franchise to operate its radio and television broadcast frequencies in a controversial decision of the House in 2020.