Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) aims to aggressively invest in expanding its Wi-fi coverage, services portfolio and marketing efforts, following its HK$5.1 billion acquisition by the Asian unit of British buyout firm CVC Capital Partners.
'We have a very solid five-year business plan,' William Yeung, the chief executive of HKBN, said in an interview. 'This is based on a strategy of value creation and revenue growth, rather than just grabbing market share.'
HKBN, the city's second-largest broadband services provider, was sold by City Telecom last month to Metropolitan Light, a company owned by the general partner of funds advised by Hong Kong-based CVC Asia-Pacific.
After the May 30 deal, some 80 senior HKBN managers agreed to invest about HK$160 million of their own money in a management buyout (MBO) arranged by CVC Asia-Pacific to acquire a 14 per cent stake in the broadband network operator.
'It is the management and employees who will drive everything,' said Roy Kuan, the managing partner at CVC Asia-Pacific.
HKBN, which owns and operates a fibre-optic network that is connected to 2 million homes and 1,700 commercial buildings in the city, plans to invest up to HK$50 million to expand its Wi-fi hot spot coverage from nearly 6,000 to 8,000 in a year.
Yeung said HKBN's goal was to broaden the reach of its content and range of services from a subscriber's personal computer and internet-connected television at home to the smartphone and media tablet used outside the home.