TPG Capital, MBK Partners' potential bid for Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Global Communications clouds WTT relaunch
Speculation mounts that private equity firms TPG and MBK, which own WTT, may make a bid for Li's fixed-line telecoms business, which could fetch up to US$1.9 billion
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing seemed to cast a large shadow at the relaunch on Thursday of Wharf T&T as WTT, the city’s largest enterprise-focused fixed-line telecommunications services provider.
The unspoken focus was the widely speculated plan by Li to divest Hutchison Global Communications (HGC), a subsidiary of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong that is part of Li-controlled conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings.
Private equity companies TPG Capital and MBK Partners, which own WTT, have recently been rumoured to be potential bidders for HGC.
WTT chief executive Vincent Ma acknowledged the elephant in the room by quickly saying “no comment” before any of the reporters in attendance at the relaunch could ask questions about that bid.
There were no representatives from either TPG or MBK at the event, which featured Hong Kong high jump record-holder Cecilia Yeung Man-wai as WTT’s new brand ambassador.
Sources said on Thursday that TPG and MBK could soon make a formal offer for HGC, bolstering their strong investment track record in the technology, media and telecommunications sector.
Succeeding in that bid, however, may lead to an unwieldy merger between WTT and the much-larger, HGC business, which includes fibre-optic network, high-speed Wi-fi, data centre and cloud computing services to enterprises.