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Technology Stocks : Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCW, PCWKF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (295)	2/11/2000 7:45:00 AM
From: Tiger	Respond to of 4541

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Cable & Wireless Plc on Friday said Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) Ltd had told it it intends to propose a merger with Cable & Wireless HKT . ''Cable & Wireless announces that it has received today an approach from Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited notifying Cable & Wireless that PCCW intends to propose a merger with Cable & Wireless HKT. - Feb 11 5:37 AM EST

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (295)	2/11/2000 7:55:00 AM
From: Tiger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4541

Friday February 11, 1:34 am Eastern Time Note: this article has a followup with more information. FOCUS-Upstart PCCW weighs offer for C&W HKT By David Lawder HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Upstart Asia Internet company Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd said on Friday it was considering an investment in Hong Kong telecom giant Cable & Wireless HKT, raising the spectre of a bidding war with Singapore Telecom. PCCW said in a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange that had retained two investment banks to assess various alternatives. Shares of C&W HKT soared more than 22 percent in Friday morning trade on newspaper reports that PCCW would participate in a consortium led by Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd to bid for control of C&W HKT. The South China Morning Post also quoted sources saying Britain's Vodafone AirTouch Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L), fresh from its takeover of Mannesmann AG, may also be interested in joining the consortium. Cheung Kong and Hutchison denied any interest in acquiring C&W HKT, but PCCW said it ''regularly reviews opportunities in the Internet and connectivity spaces.'' ''Whilst it is too early to determine whether any proposal will be formulated for presentation to the board of HKT, PCCW has retained the investment bank Warburg Dillon Read and Bank of China International, to assist in assessing all alternatives including possible investment in HKT,'' it added. Analysts said PCCW may have the muscle to bid for control of C&W HKT if its British parent Cable & Wireless Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: CW.L) is willing to accept an all-paper offer. Cable and Wireless, which holds 54 percent of C&W HKT, has long been viewed as wanting to sell its Hong Kong unit. An acquisition would give PCCW control of Hong Kong's dominant telecom provider and one of its largest employers, with about 13,000 employees and revenues of HK$32.41 billion in the year ended March 1999. HKT SHARE SLUMP ENDED C&W HKT shares were up 22.66 percent or HK$4.00 at the midday break at HK$21.65. They had underperformed the market in recent weeks as the SingTel talks, first disclosed on January 24, had dragged on with few developments. ''We have no comment on the PCCW move,'' a SingTel spokeswoman told Reuters in Singapore. SingTel earlier had said merger talks with C&W HKT were continuing and bids from third parties were just rumours. Shares of PCCW were up 5.34 percent or HK$1.25 percent to end the morning at HK$24.65 after hitting a record HK$25.50. Trade in the stock was suspended in the afternoon session at the company's request pending a statement. MARKET CAP MUSCLE PCCW was formed in May 1999 by Richard Li, youngest son of Hong Kong property tycoon and Cheung Kong chairman Li Ka-shing. It is a subsidiary of Singapore listed Pacific Century Regional Developments Ltd , which is controlled by the younger Li, a deputy chairman of Hutchison. Pacific Century said early on Friday afternoon it had also requested a suspension in trading of its stock pending an announcement. PCCW, which invests in Internet startup companies and is developing a pan-Asian broadband satellite Internet access network, has risen from the shell of a sleepy telecom equipment distributor to one of Hong Kong's most heavily traded stocks. Its market capitalisation has reached HK$223.5 billion (US$28.72 billion), outstripping that of U.S. Internet giant Amazon.com and coming close to C&W HKT's market value of HK$262.38 billion. A C&W HKT takeover would instantly give PCCW a sophisticated digital broadband network in Hong Kong and access to nearly half a million local Internet subscribers. It also would eliminate a potential competitor by gaining control of a broadband Internet-satellite television joint venture in Asia with News Corp's (Australia:NCP.AX - news) Star TV that plans a stock market listing later this year. ''PCCW is someone that makes sense,'' said Rajeev Gupta, Goldman Sachs' Internet analyst in Hong Kong. ''Acquiring HKT gives the company access into its home market, which is Hong Kong, access to 2 million homes in Hong Kong, as well as technology and data centers.'' However, PCCW would also be saddled with C&W HKT's declining core revenues and profits in Hong Kong's rapidly deregulating telecom market. With increasing competition in international direct dial, and fixed-line services, C&W HKT has said it does not expect its profits to start growing again until the fiscal year ending in 2002.