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Technology Stocks : PCW - Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (133)	1/19/2001 11:31:11 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2248

COMPANIES & FINANCE ASIA-PACIFIC: M&A activity in non-Japan Asia surges to record high CONSOLIDATION STUDY UNDERLINES TREND TOWARDS ALLIANCES SINCE 1997 DOWNTURN: Financial Times; Jan 17, 2001 By JOE LEAHY The volume of mergers and acquisitions announced but not yet completed in non-Japan Asia last year reached a record high of USDollars 187bn, up 77 per cent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Financial, the data company. JP Morgan, benefiting from its own merger with Chase Manhattan and Jardine Fleming, nudged former leader Goldman Sachs out of top place in the rankings for financial advisers for completed deals, which totalled USDollars 144m. JP Morgan helped close a total of 60 transactions valued at USDollars 58.182bn. The figures cement a trend towards partnerships and consolidation among the Asian companies following the region's financial crisis in 1997. The figure was boosted by two big deals: an acquisition of networks by China Telecom (Hong Kong) and the takeover of Cable & Wireless HKT, Hong Kong's dominant telecommunications operator, by Pacific Century Cyberworks, the Hong Kong internet start-up. China Mobile (HK), the mainland's leading cellular company, bought 13 provincial networks belonging to its parent, China Mobile Communications Corp in a deal Thomson valued at USDollars 34bn. Thomson valued the cash-and-shares PCCW deal at USDollars 35.495bn. "For the first time, Asia cooked up two mega-merger deals, joining the ranks of the top 15 worldwide announced transactions," Thomson said. "Telecommunications remain the hottest industry for buy-ins in Asia. This accounted for 45 per cent, or about USDollars 84bn, of the activity in the region." Other deals were spurred by the Asian financial crisis, which bankrupted some of the region's conglomerates and forced several of its leading business families to restructure. It also led to increased deregulation, forcing companies to become more competitive. Richard Kelly, regional head of M&A at JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said: "The mentality was let's pay the debt down and get back to it. But as they (regional companies) started doing that they saw the iceberg under the surface, which was competition." Hong Kong was the leading country for activity, with 772 deals valued at USDollars 57bn, followed by China, with 448 transactions worth USDollars 44bn. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited globalarchive.ft.com