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

To: Herc who wrote (433)	4/1/1999 12:37:00 PM
From: BomboochaBoy	Respond to of 912

I pray on my kids college education fund that PCNTF has good managment. I'll pray with you. Have to say, though, Herc, that I'd put the college funds on AOL and graduate school funds on PacNet. Then again ... PacNet will hit 100 eventually. This year or next. I can't argue with you on this one. I'm going to do some dd on Asian Online.

To: Herc who wrote (433)	4/1/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: BomboochaBoy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 912

HK Tel May List Internet Unit on Nasdaq, Eyes Asia (Correct) Another story on HK Tel, but this one has a mention of PacNet as a chief rival. Let the battle begin! quote.bloomberg.com HK Tel May List Internet Unit on Nasdaq, Eyes Asia (Correct) (Clarifies attribution in 2nd paragraph.) Hong Kong, April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd. may become the second Asian firm to list its Internet business on the Nasdaq stock market, taking advantage of a fever for online shares. Hong Kong's dominant telephone company has already begun preliminary discussions that could lead to a Nasdaq listing this year, according to an executive familiar with the company's plans. HK Telecom officials declined to comment on a report in the Ming Pao newspaper that a Nasdaq listing would be arranged by Goldman, Sachs & Co. Goldman also declined to comment. ''Obviously Hong Kong Telecom is keen to capture in its market valuation the value of its Internet, multimedia and broadband capability and the growth potential that this represents,'' said Simon Smith, Hong Kong Telecom's manager for investor relations. ''We don't want to comment specifically on our plans to achieve that, but we're pretty confident about the future of these types of services,'' Smith said. A Nasdaq listing by HK Telecom would follow Pacific Internet Ltd.'s $51 million U.S. sale in February and as investors snap up Internet-related stocks. Yahoo.com, the No. 1 Internet directory, is up 42 percent this year. Rivals Pacific Internet, based in Singapore, has about 200,000 subscribers in Asia, and plans to boost its services to increase the 32,000 clients it has in Hong Kong. Its U.S. shares more than doubled since the listing. By some estimates, a U.S. listing by HK Telecom could raise as much as US$400 million. That would give it cash to expand in Asia, where it is planning to build a regional network based in Hong Kong. Last month, it paid US$5 million to buy Taiwan-based TIC Network Service Inc. HK Telecom's expansion comes as competition heats in Hong Kong. Though HK Netvigator, the company's Internet unit, has about 300,000 subscribers -- half the estimated market in a city of 6.6 million -- Wharf Holdings Ltd. plans to introduce a rival service through its cable service. Hong Kong Netvigator accounts for about 3 percent of the company's total sales, or HK$1 billion ($129.4 million), according to Daniel Widdicombe, an analyst at Bear Stearns Cos. in Hong Kong. Challenge HK Telecom would probably try to value its Internet business at about at 10 percent of the company's current market capitalization, or about US$2.3 billion, analysts said. Selling a third of the unit to the public would mean a share sale of about US$345 million. ''The challenge for Hong Kong Telecom is to demonstrate to the investment community that their ISP business can grow as fast as those in the States,'' Widdicombe said. ''But there's a limited population in Hong Kong, unlike the States, where there are 35 million Internet users.'' Hong Kong Telecom shares fell 0.7 percent to HK$15.20, compared with a 0.7 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.