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C&W to sell PCCW shares
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April 2, 2001: 6:28 a.m. ET
UK telecom operator to raise $1.5 bn from sale of HK Internet and telecom firm
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LONDON (CNN) - Cable & Wireless plans to sell $1.5 billion of debt exchangeable into shares of Hong Kong's dominant telecom firm Pacific Century Cyberworks.
The UK telecom operator said on Monday that it is offering its 14.7 percent stake in the Hong Kong telecom operator and Internet investment firm for bonds exchangeable for a minimum of HK$3.60 a share.
PCCW shares closed at HK$3.075 on Friday and were suspended on Monday ahead of the announcement. Investors will be repaid the debt when it matures in three years and could also make a profit if the shares rally.
 "This 15 percent will be spread to different big funds, not to any strategic investors," Richard Li, PCCW chairman told reporters in Hong Kong.
PCCW has agreed to waive Cable & Wireless' lock-up period of selling shares in the Hong Kong company, acquired after PCCW bought Cable & Wireless' Hong Kong operations in August for $37.4 billion. The lock-up period would have expired on August 12.
PCCW's share price has tumbled from a high of $28.50 before the merger was announced last February, falling further as investors fretted over Cable & Wireless selling the rest of its stake after it sold a smaller stake in the Hong Kong firm.
The Hong Kong company, controlled by Li, son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, on Wednesday reported a worse-than-expected net loss of $886 million, as costs of the takeover and the plunging values of investment hit its bottom line.
Cable & Wireless (CW-) shares rose 2 percent to 484 pence in London.
--from staff and wire reports 
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