Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Pacific Internet Next HOT IPO? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Herc who wrote (867)	9/24/1999 10:56:00 AM
From: Herc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 912

THE BOSS MUST BE GETTING TIRED!! <<SembCorp may sell entire PacNet September 24, 1999 08:33 AM By Serena Ng SINGAPORE, Sept 24 (Reuters) - SembCorp Industries said on Friday it may sell its entire stake in Nasdaq-listed Pacific Internet (PacNet) if it received a "fantastic" offer. "There is a possibility...if we are offered a fantastic price," said Wong Kok Siew, SembCorp's president and chief executive officer. He added that SembCorp's ideal situation was to find an international strategic partner that could add value to PacNet and help it grow regionally, and then allow the partner to take over PacNet's management. "Ideally we also would like to hold a small stake of five to 10 percent, but it depends on the partner and on the price...if they offer me a fantastic price, I can't refuse that," he added. Wong said that if PacNet was sold, SembCorp would be moving out of its Internet business, but added it would still retain its information technology arm and electronic commerce businesses. Asked why SembCorp wanted to sell its majority stake in PacNet, chairman Philip Yeo, scheduled to retire on October 1, said: "No money. One handicap of PacNet is that we don't own any (telephone) lines. For every dollar of revenue, we pay sixty cents or more to SingTel," he said. Yeo added that users of PacNet had to access the Internet using Singapore Telecommunications Ltd's (SingTel) phone lines. Users of SingTel's SingNet, currently PacNet's biggest competitor in Singapore, can access the Internet through toll-free telephone numbers. Cyberway, Singapore's third Internet service provider, would also be able to rely on StarHub's networks in the near future, Yeo said. StarHub, owned by British Telecom , Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp , Singapore Technologies and Singapore Power, would break SingTel's monopoly in fixed line phone services in April 2000. "If we want to grow we have to sell it to international partners to come in. Selling to Singapore partners is a waste of time. We have to sell to people who can give us additional networks," Yeo, also chairman of the Economic Development Board, said. "My belief is that PacNet can grow if it can find partners who can take majority or minority stakes that can help them grow regionally. SembCorp is prepared to sell all, or whatever it is." Yeo said that SembCorp had already been approached by several investors who were asking for a majority stake in PacNet.>>