Moin
Die Talfahrt geht heute weiter!
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@FLAGSHIP wünscht einen guten Zukauf !
C&W sells 4.9% shares in PCCW
Century CyberWorks, or 4.9 per cent of PCCW shares outstanding, at a price of HK$9.68 (US$1.24) to HK$9.98 (US$1.28) a share, said BNP Prime Peregrine, one of the firms placing shares on C&W`s behalf.
The share sale had been agreed to under PCCW`s February deal to buy Cable & Wireless HKT from parent C&W, but the exact timing and terms had not been known.
At HK$9.98, the placement represents a 7.16 per cent discount to PCCW`s yesterday morning finish of HK$10.75 (US$1.38). A total of 53.36 million shares worth HK$573.75 million (US$73.55 million) were traded.
The stock was suspended by the stock exchange prior to the resumption of afternoon trade pending an announcement.
Cable & Wireless, which sold its Cable & Wireless HKT unit to PCCW in a US$28.5 billion deal that closed in August, owned 19.1 per cent of PCCW shares before yesterday`s sale.
Under the takeover agreement with PCCW, C&W agreed to sell up to 4.9 per cent of PCCW`s shares by November 15. The British telecoms giant also pledged to keep half its remaining shares in PCCW for six months following the deal`s August closing, and the remaining half for another six months after that.
One telecom analyst said the earlier-than-expected sale showed bearish sentiment towards PCCW. "They earlier agreed to sell in November, but now they said they want to sell today. Are they afraid that they can`t sell at this price in November?"
PCCW shares have skidded recently on fears C&W would sell at a steep discount, falling far below their record high of HK$28.50 in March.
But another analyst said the investment bankers had likely pre-placed a large chunk of the shares.
"There was a significant short position on this stock. It`s quite likely that some of the major funds that were short might use this as an opportunity to buy back," said analyst Sanjeet Devgan of Prudential-Bache Securities.
"Even for people who have shorted the stock, the opinion is that technically and even fundamentally, the worst-case scenario is HK$9 to HK$10 - and the stock`s almost there," he said.
C&W declined comment.
On Tuesday, a C&W spokesman said: "We have the opportunity between now and the middle of November to sell off 4.9 per cent (of PCCW), but we have made no decision on whether to take that option. We will judge the market conditions at the appropriate time and make a decision."
Merrill Lynch was the lead manager on the placement, and ABN AMRO also sold PCCW shares on C&W`s behalf, sources said.
One Hong Kong analyst who declined to be named said he did not believe the market could absorb the entire block of shares, which would be worth more than HK$10 billion (US$1.28 billion) at the upper end of the price range, and predicted PCCW`s share price would be further stung in the near-term.
Agencies via Xinhua