UK C&W To Sell Entire 15.3% Stake In HK CyberWorks-Report
Updated: Tuesday, February 6, 2001 08:54 PM ET
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Cable & Wireless PLC (CWP, news, msgs) is planning to sell its entire 15.3% stake in Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. (PCW, news, msgs) in one go, according to an unsourced Ming Pao Daily report Wednesday.
According to the report, C&W has been in talks to sell its HK$14 billion of PCCW shares to Telecom Italia S.P.A. (TI, news, msgs), French-based Alcatel S.A. (ALA, news, msgs), and an unidentified U.S. business. However, negotiations, which have also involved PCCW, haven't been finalized yet and C&W is still talking to other parties.
No one at PCCW could be immediately reached for a comment.
According to the initial agreement struck when PCCW bought the Hong Kong telecom arm of C&W last August, C&W has the right to sell half its stake after Feb. 17 and the remainder in another six months.
Fears that the U.K. operator would dump such a sizable stake in the market when the lock-up period expires have damped CyberWorks shares recently.
If the deal materializes, it will remove an overhang in the market and provide a short-term technical boost to PCCW's shares, an analyst with a U.S. investment bank said.
PCCW shares have tumbled 83% from a high of HK$27.859 in mid-February 2000. Tuesday it closed down 1.1% at HK$4.625.
-By Sonia Tsang, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; sonia.tsang@dowjones.com
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