[KnowItAll]

Can someone explain to me .. what are they selling? From what I gather, it is their fixed line business. Does it also include their internet (netvigator) and broadband TV (now) businesses? Is PCCW Mobile being sold too?

[Max]

Are they selling something?

[PDLM]

From what I read it is all of the telecoms and media business. PCCW actually has a heap of other stuff (mainly property - including Bel-Air I believe) which is actually where most of their profit comes from. But there are many other people interested in it - other private equity groups, China Netcom, ...

Macquarie is quite an unusual company - they are building up a very big worldwide portfolio in a number of areas including telecoms, headed up by a senior ex-Telstra man by the name of Moriarty. It's not exactly clear what the rationale is - they claim not to be in it for a quick buck through "restructure, break up and sell off" as many private equity groups do, but it isn't clear what synergies or other benefits they hope to get by putting together this rather disparate set of holdings.

[KnowItAll]

So, they're selling a mixed bag of profitable and not so profitable businesses.

Wonder if it includes any non compete clauses which prevent Cheung Kong from then undercutting those profitable businesses, destroying them and buying them back for half the price in a few years time.

[HKFella]

Does "all their telecom" include international data networks for corporations - point to point leased or frame relay circuits, MPLS, EVPN, etc. etc. - stuff which they've been pretty good at?

[kombuchakid]

Actooly it is a case of Li coming to the aid of mini Li.

Behind the scenes of the latest offer for PCCW is Simon Murray, Macquarie Asia's chairman for corporate finance. The Li family has had no more loyal servant than Mr Murray, the former Hutchison Whampoa taipan.


Earlier this year, another Li family intimate, former Goldman Sachs Asia top banker Tim Dattels, now Newbridge Capital managing director, offered unsuccessfully to privatise PCCW's parent, the Singapore-listed Pacific Century Regional Developments, arguing that PCCW and its other assets were undervalued.


We dare not suggest this is a case of Li Ka-shing clandestinely bailing out his son, but the elder Li's former lieutenants do look a lot like guardian angels.

from Lai See

[KnowItAll]

Pretty gutsy coming from SCMP.

[freeier]

macquarie tends to buy asset, e.g. wire networks, distribution networks, buildings, power stations, etc.etc.

its abit odd this time for them to be procuring a business whole sale..

what they usually do is to package the assets into dividend yielding securities and sell them as part of their infrastructure funds.

then they make money out of managing those trust funds.

[shri]

So what happened... I blinked and the next thing you know, Richard Li is selling his shares to someone he has load money to.

*weird*

[freeier]

well, when Pacific century came in with a bid for c&w business during the boom boom period, the rationale was that the telecom infrastructure should not fall into the hand of foreigners (i.e. singapore telecoms). so they paid inflated prices using their inflated shares to purchase the whole business of C&W.

i am not sure how well C&W fair over the deal. whether they managed to get rid fo their PCCW shares in time..

anyway now that another chinese man come abroad, i guess the logical patriotic view is to sell it to him instead of to a downunder asset raider..

8-)

alot of things being explained defies logic and basically the public investors were brought on a big roller coaster ride that burnt most of their investment