UK C&W PLC To Announce PCCW Stake Sale Shortly - PCCW
Updated: Monday, February 19, 2001 06:41 AM ET
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--U.K. telecom operator Cable & Wireless PLC (CWP, news, msgs) is due to announce what it will do with its stake in Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. (PCW, news, msgs) shortly, a PCCW spokeswoman said Monday.
C&W PLC holds 15.3% in PCCW, which it acquired as part-payment when the Hong Kong internet access and content provider bought C&W PLC's Hong Kong telecom arm in August last year. It has the right to sell half that stake after a lockup period which expired Saturday and the remainder in another six months.
Speculation on C&W's plans for the shares has plagued PCCW's share price for more than a month, and has included talk of a placement to one or more strategic buyers, perhaps Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (P.SGT, news, msgs) and American International Group Inc. (AIG, news, msgs).
Recently, speculation has centered around a possible bond issue, convertible into shares in PCCW. Market talk has also suggested that Li Ka-shing, who controls Hong Kong's Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. (H.CKH, news, msgs) and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (H.HUW, news, msgs) and is also the father of PCCW's chariman, Richard Li, would subscribe to a substantial portion of such a convertible bond issue.
PCCW's shares gained 2.5 HK cents Monday to HK$4.65.
As reported, Cable & Wireless confirmed Monday that it's on talks with PCCW on the disposal of its stake.
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