SmarTone shares still in balance
2001-06-16
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Share sales of two mobile phone companies, Singapore's MobileOne (M1) and Hong Kong's SmarTone Telecommunications, are still in the balance.
The four shareholders of M1, in which Pacific Century CyberWorks has a 14.7 indirect stake, invited bidders for their entire stakes last month.
However, the outcome has yet to be revealed.
Neil Montefiore, M1 chief executive, did not offer any explanation as to why a winner had not been announced.
Regional Wireless, a 60-40 joint venture between Telstra of Australia and CyberWorks, made a bid, together with Malaysia's Maxis Telecommunications.
However, the bids were said to be too low to be considered.
Mr Montefiore also ruled out an initial public offering as an alternative for M1 shareholders to cash out, saying that it is "no longer an option at the moment".
He added that the appointment of ABN Amro as financial adviser to M1 had expired.
M1, the second largest mobile operator in Singapore, expects this year to be more profitable than last year.
M1 made S$ 79 million (about HK$ 339.85 million) last year, Mr Montefiore said, adding M1's subscriber base had been growing a year on year 20 per cent to 25 per cent this year.
Meanwhile, SmarTone chief executive Ian Stone said there was no update on British Telecommunications' (BT) pending disposal of its 20.2 per cent stake in SmarTone.
"It is still our preference to find a strategic partner for that stake," Mr Stone said.
He said there was no change in his stance on a company buyback of the BT stake, even though such a massive programme might enhance shareholder value.
Hong Kong and China Gas announced a HK$ 4.1 billion buyback programme on Wednesday.
Mr Stone said he supported plans for mobile operators to share costs of constructing third generation networks.
He estimated that Hong Kong operators could save up to 30 per cent of their capital expenditure on networks if they chose to share costs with other operators.
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