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Hutchison to acquire telco unit for $542m
11 January 2010
Li Ka-shing’s Hong Kong industrial giant Hutchison Whampoa is offering $542 million to acquire the shares in its mobile telecoms offshoot, HTIL
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Hutchison
HTIL
Hutchison Whampoa
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Sri Lanka
Vietnam
Thailand
Comment: Li Ka-shing, one of the pioneers of mobile communications, can be expected to invest heavily in the strongly growing markets of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. But Hutchison — one of the founding forces behind Orange and still in control of the 3 mobile companies — has lost much of the dynamism of its earlier years in the business.
Hutchison Whampoa has confirmed that it is seeking to buy out its part-owned telecoms unit in a $542 million deal. The group, which is managed by Li Ka-shing, has offered to buy 1.9 billion shares of Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) for about $0.28 per share.
The Hong Kong conglomerate is planning to buy the remaining 39.6% stake in Hutchison telecom unit. The company, at the time of its initial public offering in 2004, had a presence in seven countries. The emerging markets telecoms group currently runs four subsidiaries located in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The units in the four regions are underperforming and HTIL is seeking to sell its Thailand business. Hutchison is looking to privatise HTIL as it plans to continue investing in the remaining three units.
Hutchison Whampoa had appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on the deal. GTB