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To: Doug Robinson who wrote (65679)	4/1/1999 9:27:00 AM
From: Teri Garner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119973

PCNTF ($60) considers selling stake to propel expansion: Pacific Internet May Consider Selling Stake to Propel Expansion Pacific Internet May Consider Selling Stake to Propel Expansion Singapore, March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Internet Ltd., Asia's first Internet-related company to trade in the U.S., may sell a stake in the company to propel its expansion into Europe and the U.S. ''We may consider letting'' international companies ''take a strategic stake in the company and take some cash upfront,'' Wong Kok Siew, president of PacNet's parent SembCorp Industries Ltd., said in an interview. ''We are already talking to some'' potential investors. For SembCorp, the move will bring cash which could help reduce its debt of about S$1.5 billion. The stake sale could also help PacNet battle competition as it scours for acquisitions in Asia, particularly in markets such as Australia and India. ''This is one of the ways to raise cash and anyway for an 1 Internet business a strategic partner could enhance competitiveness,'' said Rachel Miu, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Singapore. PacNet is locked in a fight for leadership in markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Singapore, PacNet's home market, is unlikely to be its big money spinner because of its limited population of about 3.5 million and intense competition. PacNet has been looking beyond the island state's shores. Wong said PacNet's long-term expansion would come from strategic alliances both in the U.S and Europe, with partners looking to the company because of its presence in the Asian Internet market -- one of the fastest-growing in the world. He declined to name the interested companies. Profits The Singapore-based unit of the infrastructure and engineering giant has a market capitalization of about $578 million and reported its first profit in 1998. PacNet's net income was $7.4 million, or 73 cents a share, from a loss of $5.8 million, or 56 cents in 1997. PacNet claims its one of the few Internet providers to be in multiple markets in Asia, and one of the few profitable Internet companies in the region. Still, the company warned profit margins will be hurt as it buys companies in Asia to expand and as it matches an offer by Singapore rival SingNet to absorb phone charges for customers surfing the Net. SingNet, another one of the three Internet service providers in Singapore, is owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., the country's dominant phone operator. The company's customer base in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines rose to 66 percent to 203,490 users. Singapore, where PacNet has 42 percent of dial-up customer market, accounted for 83 percent of sales. PacNet competes in Singapore with SingNet and CyberWay, a unit of StarHub Pte., which will offer fixed and mobile phone services on the island starting April 2000.