16:33 16-DEC-1999
Hutchison's Li sees cooperation with PCC
<1186.HK>
HONG KONG, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Hutchison Whampoa
Ltd <0013.HK> chairman Li Ka-shing said on Thursday the
company was likely to announce cooperation soon with son
Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd <1186.HK>
(PCC) in Internet businesses.
"Highly likely," Li told reporters when asked if the two firms
would cooperate in their Internet businesses.
"Nowadays the world's big Internet companies have some kind of cooperation with one
another." "When to make an announcement? It won't be too much later," he said. He did not
elaborate.
Richard Li is the executive chairman of PCC, which is holding a news conference later on
Thursday to announce the formation of a joint venture with an information technology firm.
The son also said earlier this month that his company might consider cooperating with
Hutchison in providing broadband Internet services in the future.
Li Ka-shing said on Thursday he saw no conflict between Hutchison and PCCW. "No
conflict," he said. "As the Internet world is so extensive...everybody is complementing one
another.
So there is no conflict with Pacific Century, nor is there any conflict between Hutchison and
Cheung Kong." Li is also the chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd <0001.HK>, a
leading property developer which is Hutchison's controlling shareholder.
"Hutchison is expected to have more Internet engagement than Cheung Kong," he added.
Hong Kong Cable Television also quoted Li as saying that Hutchison did not intend to change
Mannesmann AG management's previous stance on the takeover bid by Vodafone AirTouch
Plc although the bidder was now planning to raise its offer. But he was quoted as saying that
if Mannesmann's management accepted the new offer proposal, Hutchison -- Mannesmann's
single largest shareholder -- would go with its decision.
Hutchison officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
German telecoms and engineering group Mannesmann had previously opposed the hostile bid
by British-based cellphone giant Vodafone, calling its offer too low. But it said last week that
it was prepared to look at any revision to the offer. ((Hong Kong Newsroom +852
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This story The High-tech
Son(http://www.forbes.com/forbes/99/0705/6401156.htm),
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17:50 16-DEC-1999
PCCW <1186.HK>to invest US$30 mln in
e-commerce JV
HONG KONG, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Pacific Century
CyberWorks Ltd on Thursday said it would invest US$30
million in a 50:50 joint venture with information technology
company NetCel Ltd to provide business-to business e-commerce services in the Asia
Pacific region.
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By M K Shankar
STORY: PACIFIC Century CyberWorks (PCCW) will invest US$30 million
(HK$234 million) in an Internet venture with Phillip Kelly, the former president
of Dell Computer Corp's Asia Pacific operations, to provide
business-to-business Internet services in Asia.
Mr Kelly is the architect of Dell Computer Corporation's Asian e-commerce
business roll-out. He will serve as chairman of the equal share
business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce joint venture.
Alex Arena, group managing director, said PCCW and Mr Kelly's NetCel
would form Total e-Comm Limited to provide ``comprehensive B2B
e-commerce services and develop and manage a network of B2B
e-commerce companies.'
Mr Arena said Mr Kelly and a team of experts would create an infrastructure
in Asia to enable companies in the region to better manage their
supply-chain cycles.
Mr Kelly, who has been named chairman of Total e-Comm, built Dell
Computer's first US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) direct e-commerce enabled
business in the Asia-Pacific region.
He said Richard Li's PCCW would contribute US$30 million in cash for its
half share in Total e-Comm, while NetCel brought its holding in NetCel360, a
pan-Asian out-source for e-commerce solutions for businesses operating in
the Asia-Pacific region.
As a consequence of the holding structure Total e-Comm would have a
controlling stake of 75 per cent in NetCel360, the operational agent in the
venture, the other 25 per cent would be for strategic partners who bring in
skills, he said.
Total e-Comm would form two companies eNOW! and eWORKS, which
were responsible for end-to-end business and project-management
services respectively for Pacific Convergence Corporation and for the
20-plus investee companies of PCCW, he said.
Mr Kelly said, beginning with anchor customers, eNOW! and eWORKS
along with Total e-Comm would roll out its suite of e-commerce services in
a phased manner next year, beginning with Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
Hong Kong, and Australia. This would be followed up with deployments on
the mainland, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.
He forecast an e-commerce transaction volume of US$100 billion in Asia by
2003 from US$3.39 billion last year. He expected the Asian region to
manifest the fastest growth rate in e-commerce _ 35 per cent during
1998-2003, against the US (21 per cent) and Western Europe (31 per cent).
NetCel360 will build the freeway for e-commerce _ ranging from consulting,
market research, web design and hosting, financial and legal services,
transaction and customer support, logistics and supply-chain management,
billing and treasury management, and after sales services.
Mr Kelly said Total e-Comm would negotiate the complexities of rolling out
the services arising from geographies, regulative practices, and the number
of languages between which documents would need to be translated. A
critical component would be call centres _ one each in Hong Kong,
Singapore, and on the mainland. Customers would be top-tier firms in
components, chemicals and manufacturing sectors.
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