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

To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (573)	3/5/2000 2:41:00 AM
From: ms.smartest.person	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4541

Li denies using political trump in battle for HKT online.hkstandard.com By Irene Ip STORY: CONCERNS over the battle for Cable & Wireless HKT (HKT) linger despite denials by winning bidder Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) that politics played a part in its victory over Singapore Telecommunications. Richard Li Tzar-kai yesterday denied he had secured mainland or Hong Kong government support in his successful bid for HKT. Separately, SingTel declined to comment on whether politics played a part in its defeat in the HKT battle, but said it planned to issue a statement soon to explain its withdrawal. In an interview with Asiaweek magazine, Mr Li said that, while he visited Beijing in early February and met with the head of the Bank of China (BOC), the talks had nothing do with PCCW's bid for HKT. Speculation is rife that Beijing tacitly supported the 33-year-old Internet magnate's bid over that of cash-rich rival SingTel. BOC is one of the leading banks in the syndication helping bankroll PCCW's purchase of HKT with a bridging loan of more than US$12 billion (HK$93.6 billion). Although it is Asia's third largest Internet company, PCCW, which is not even a year old, has yet to turn in any profit. Mr Li said it was PCCW's vice-chairman Francis Yuen Tin-fan who arranged the bridging loan, and he himself had not seen BOC's Hong Kong chief Liu Jinbao throughout the deal. PCCW has mandated co-ordinating arrangers BOCI Capital, HSBC Investment Bank, the Hong Kong branch of Banque Nationale de Paris and Barclays Capital Asia to arrange $12 billion to help fund the cash tranche of the HKT acquisition. Despite its size and PCCW's relative youthfulness, the loan is expected to be popular with banks because it will be seen as HKT risk. Mr Li also sought to explain why his attempt to join SingTel in a joint bid fell through. ``Sing Tel wants control over the running of HKT. At the same time, it doesn't want us (PCCW) to enter the Singapore market. Is that fair?' he said. Mr Li said several times that he repeatedly pledged that he will keep an open mind toward future co-operation with SingTel. SingTel chief executive Lee Hsien Yang did not address political issues when he spoke to Reuters yesterday. ``There is a limit as to what we can say right now because of the situation but we will be issuing a statement, I think tomorrow, on the matter,' Mr Lee said. It is believed SingTel had almost finalised the commercial and financial terms of its takeover for HKT, right before PCCW entered the bidding battle. SingTel's chief operating officer Lim Toon said SingTel had ``learnt a lot from HKT experience'. ``It also makes us work a lot harder. There are still a lot of investment opportunities in Asia and we think they far exceed our ability to address them. ``We don't see this as a negative. We will address the opportunities more aggressively,' Mr Lim said. He was not worried that SingTel's planned venture with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp would be affected if Star TV's joint venture with HKT goes ahead. Rupert Murdoch has scheduled a meeting with Mr Li for next week about the future of the joint venture, according to James Murdoch, son of the Australian media tycoon and vice-president of News Corp. The Internet and pay TV joint venture could potentially compete with PCCW's NOW (Network of the World) _ a service which combines digital TV and Web access under development, in the pan-Asian market. James Murdoch in Beijing yesterday said he had talked positively with Mr Li and both were ``very committed' to keeping the one-year-old venture alive. ``If anything, I think we'd like to expand it if that's what's going to be in the best interest of the joint venture and our respective companies,' Mr Murdoch said. ``We're in the process of defining what our relationship is going to be. ``It's not unusual for a company to compete in one place and co-operate in another.' The venture was ``not something you could walk away from', Mr Murdoch said. ``It's a meat and potatoes agreement. It's a real company with real assets. We're putting one of our best executives in it.' Mr Murdoch also said the company would spend ``considerable amounts' to achieve its vision of a pan-Asian rollout of converged video and Web services. This would include the China market.