First Pacific, the Hong Kong investment company, on Tuesday backed out of a deal with the Philippine government to acquire its indirect 6.4 per cent stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co, the country’s biggest phone company.

Manila and First Pacific, which already owns a quarter of PLDT, planned to sign an agreement on Tuesday on the government’s 46 per cent stake in holding company Philippine Telecommunication Investment Corp, which owns 14 per cent of PLDT.