PCCW News 17.04.00 engl. - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[grosser_nagus]

Mon, 17 Apr 2000, 01:37pm HKT

CyberWorks Falls as Much as 20%,
Concerns Mount Over Its HKT Takeover
Pact
By Biddy Chan

Hong Kong, April 17 (Bloomberg) - Pacific Century CyberWorks
Ltd. fell as much as 20 percent as investors rushed to dump the
shares amid a global sell-off in technology stocks, renewing
concerns its agreement to take over Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd.
maybe in doubt.

Richard Li`s Internet investment vehicle lost as much as
HK$3.25 to HK$12.80, after the stock plunged 24 percent in over-
the-counter trading in the U.S. on Friday, when the technology-
heavy Nasdaq Composite Index posted a 9.7 percent fall. Some
87.1million shares traded in the morning, almost equal to the full-day
average of 82 million the past six months.

Investors and analysts have grown wary over whether the
recent drop in CyberWorks` share price puts into doubt its
agreement to take control of HKT, Hong Kong`s dominant telephone
company. Though HKT`s board of directors has agreed to let
CyberWorks` offer proceed with a so-called scheme of
arrangement,instead of a general offer, the Internet firm still needs the
support of a small number of minority HKT shareholders to take
over and delist HKT.
``There could be an impact on the deal,`` said Martin Lau, a
fund manager with Invesco Asia Ltd., which invests $3 billion in
Asia. ``The currency of CyberWorks is its share price. A drop in
the share price actually means it has less buying power.``

CyberWorks on Feb. 29 said it would buy HKT for as much as
$38 billion. Under its proposal, HKT shareholders receive
US$0.929cash plus 0.7116 CyberWorks share for each HKT share they own.
Alternatively, they can get 1.1 CyberWorks shares with no cash.

Share Decline

CyberWorks shares have fallen 49 percent since their high of
HK$26.35 on Feb. 15. The declines had raised concerns the
transaction might not go ahead, particularly on March 22, when
CyberWorks shares fell to as low as HK$18.35, lower than an offer
price set by C&W Plc to sell the Internet firm`s stock to its own
shareholders. HKT shares have lost 37 percent since the agreement
was reached.

Based on HKT`s intraday low of HK$16.40 today, CyberWorks
shares should trade at at least HK$16.34 to attract HKT
shareholders to pick the cash-and-stock offer, and HK$14.90 for
the all-stock option. CyberWorks was last at HK$13.90.

Still, Richard Li, CyberWorks` chairman, said in Beijing over
the weekend the company has no plan to revise its offer terms for
HKT, even after the stock`s fall in U.S. trading on Friday,
according to the South China Morning Post.

CyberWorks has said Cable & Wireless Plc of the U.K., which
owns 54 percent of HKT, has irrevocably accepted its cash-and-
stock offer.

Under the scheme of arrangement, CyberWorks needs approval by
just 75 percent of all HKT shareholders, including C&W Plc. In a
general offer, it would need support from 90 percent of HKT`s
minority shareholders -- of which C&W Plc isn`t part -- before it
can declare the offer compulsory.

Independent of CyberWorks` offer, C&W Plc has proposed that
its own shareholders can apply the cash they receive from
CyberWorks to buy more CyberWorks shares from C&W Plc at
US$2.39 each, equivalent to HK$18.62.

CyberWorks` share price drop will affect the amount of cash
C&W Plc receives from the HKT stake sale.

China Telecom (H.K.) Group, HKT`s second-biggest shareholder
with a 10.8 percent stake, said last week it may follow C&W Plc to
take the cash-and-stock offer and may even sell all its shares in
what will be called PCCW-HKT, if C&W Plc`s choice proves to be
beneficial to shareholders.

``It looks like C&W Plc is seeking as much cash as possible.
If what they do proves to be beneficial to shareholders, we may
follow suit,`` Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Telecom (H.K.)
Group said last week.
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[Mr.Fresh]

Wenn ich das richtig verstanden habe, hört sich das so an, als wenn aufgrund dieses Crashs PCCW nicht mehr genug Geld für C&W hat. Aber was soll das??? Diese Herren, die solche Übernahmen aushandeln haben in solchen Verträgen mind. 200 Klauseln für den Fall das .........und das........ und das...........u.s.w. Und da planen die Kursschwankungen selbst in diesen Größenordnungen nicht mit ein??? Schließlich ist doch C&W jetzt auch nicht mehr das Wert wie zu Zeiten um den 15. Februar also kann doch auch keiner verlangen, das der gleiche Preis gezahlt wird.