PCCW proposes to buy C&W HKT solely - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[stier123]

Also doch,
PCCW will C&W alleine kaufen
Quelle:
http://www.infocastfn.com/news/02-18-2000-37-13921eng.html

10:35 PCCW(1186) proposes to buy C&W HKT solely at 1.5PCCW share+$1 for 1C&W HKT share
(Infocast News) A source told that PCCW(1186) decides to acquire C&W HKT (0008) on its own, and has proposed to UK C&W for an acquisition, as quoted from Oriental Daily. A market source said that PCCW plans to use 1.5 PCCW share plus $1 to acquire 1 C&W HKT share. Calculated in accordance with PCCW`s yesterday close at $25.8 each, the purchasing price equals to $40 per C&W HKT share. C&W`s spokesman declined to comment on that. HK Economic Journal also reported that after a careful calculation, PCCW concludes that it can acquire C&W HKT on its own.

According to HK Economic Times, Citic Pacific (0267) is discussing with PCCW on the joint acquisition of C&W HKT, if proceeded, Citic will occupy 10% stakes in that new joint venture. The news pointed out that PCCW would like to team up with Citic is due to Citic`s possession of the national optical fibre network and its gradual entry into Mainland cable TV, which will facilitate the development of the new merger`s broadband business.

Coincidentally, Richard Li, Chairman of PCCW and Linus Cheung, Chief Executive of C&W HKT appeared in Beijing yesterday. Li explained his appearance as to take care of its mainland business and attend meetings. He said that he did not meet any Beijing officials. Whereas C&W HKT explained that Cheung went to meet its business partners, but did not say when Cheung will leave Beijing.

Regarding to SingTel`s Chairman Koh Boon Hwee, HK Economic Journal reported that he has left for Beijing.




(18/02/00)

[klingelbeutel]

i hope so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Turbocash]

Ja es sieht ganz danach aus. Wahrscheinlich hilft Papi. Sieht aus
als wuerde PCCW es schaffen. Hier das neue von The Economist.

Economist article on PCC
(A direct cut and paste from the Feb 19th to 25th Feb web edition. Sorry no direct link. Go to www.economist.com and find BUSINESS section, Asia Telecoms, article heading Li v LEE. May need to register, it`s free.)

AN UPSTART Internet firm with a 33-year old boss, no profits, and a business plan as fuzzy as it is bold muscles
in on a merger between two telecoms utilities. And in
Asia, too. No wonder the stockmarket is excited. Pacific
Century CyberWorks (PCCW) is less than a year old. But
since February 11th, when it announced plans to bid for
Hong Kong’s former telecoms monopoly, Cable &
Wireless HKT, which was itself already in talks to merge
with its counterpart in Singapore, SingTel, the young
company’s market value has soared to more than $30
billion. The Internet is, of course, part of the allure of
PCCW’s offer, which was still being hammered out as
The Economist went to press. But it does not hurt that
the raider seems too well-connected to fail.

His name is Richard Li and he is an entrepreneur, with a
degree in computer engineering from Stanford University
and a taste for deal-making. In his 20s, he created Star
TV to beam television into Asian homes from satellites.
Mr Li sold Star TV to Rupert Murdoch in 1995. Since last
year, he has been trying his old idea from another angle:
why not pump the Internet into Asian households, using
cables or satellites, which have more bandwidth than the
copper wires most people now use? Several scores of
deals later, Mr Li’s company, PCCW, has become the
darling of Asia’s Internet investors, with a market value
exceeding that of Amazon.

That is half the story. The other half is Mr Li’s father, Li Ka-shing. The older Mr Li is the most powerful tycoon in
Hong Kong. Through his two listed holding companies,
Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, he rules an empire spanning property, ports, and much else, including
Hong Kong’s biggest mobile-phone operator.

People who know the younger Mr Li say that he is
desperate to prove he can go it alone. Yet his father’s
connections are hard to ignore. Last year, when PCCW
leap-frogged the normal land-auction process in Hong
Kong to win a government mandate to build a complex of
hot-wired office blocks, those who missed out complained
that Li family connections had played a part.

The Li factor may now come into its own. A source
close to the negotiations confides that PCCW is “preparing
for a 100% merger” and “to go it alone”. But ysts
are sceptical as to whether it can. Britain’s Cable and
Wireless, the majority owner of HKT, will not consider a
pure paper deal. And although PCCW this week raised
several billion dollars from a whirlwind share issue and
bridge loans, that is not enough to buy HKT, which has a
price tag of at least $40 billion.

So Mr Li will probably have to assemble a consortium for
his bid. One possible member is Hikari Tsushin, a
Japanese mobile-phone retailer and venture-capital firm
(see article), which is already a partner of PCCW’s. But
analysts expect the older Mr Li to be involved too. He
has already made a ing from a big investment in
Orange, a British mobile operator that was bought by
Mannesmann before the German firm itself became the
target of Britain’s Vodafone AirTouch. This gives Li
Ka-shing a direct line to Vodafone, which may itself
decide to enter the bidding for HKT.

Then there are the Lis’ connections in government, in
both Hong Kong and Beijing. Officially, nothing about the
battle for control of HKT is political. On February 16th
China Telecom, which is controlled by Beijing and owns
more than 10% of HKT, denied reports that it is in talks
with Richard Li about entering a consortium. Yet,
Singapore rivals Hong Kong as a regional business
centre. By coincidence, SingTel, too, is run by a
well-connected second son with a degree from Stanford
University: Lee Hsien Yang, son of Lee Kuan Yew,
Singapore’s founding father and senior minister. To the
powers in Hong Kong and Beijing, the Hong Kong Lis
are decidedly more palatable than the Singapore Lees.
All this goes to explain why HKT wanted to cap the
voting rights of Singapore’s government to 29.9%, even
though, as majority owner of SingTel, it would hold more
than 40% of a combined entity.

Yet what exactly would HKT do for Richard Li? It
generates a lot of cash. Its 3m fixed-line customers
would be useful for marketing purposes, as would the
700,000 subscribers to HKT’s Internet service. A twist
that has not gone unnoticed is that HKT also has a joint
venture with Mr Li’s old Star TV. But the main attraction
for PCCW is the 80% of Hong Kong households that HKT
has “passed” with “ADSL” lines, which are designed to
carry the sort of broadband Internet services that PCCW
wants to supply.

That sounds good, except that PCCW’s goal is to become
the biggest provider of broadband Internet service in
Asia. The Hong Kong market is tiny, and PCCW is paying
a lot to get its hands on it. This acquisition amounts to
“buying an elephant to get the tusks,” says one yst.
Even hiving off parts of HKT after a merger would be
difficult, because “who wants to buy the torso?” Unless,
that is, there is room in the family attic.