Bidders gear up for Li Ka-shing’s fixed-line network business
Tycoon may walk away from deal if hefty price tag for Hutchison Global Communications, valued as high as US$1.9b, is not met, says source
As Hong Kong ratcheted up preparations for the 20th anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty on Saturday, a number of major enterprises quietly moved to make a deal with tycoon Li Ka-shing to buy his 22-year-old fixed-line telecommunications network business.
Private equity companies TPG Capital and MBK Partners, operator Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) and two so-called infrastructure funds were expected to submit non-binding proposals on Friday to purchase Hutchison Global Communications (HGC), a unit of Li’s Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong, according to sources.
That previous transaction showed the strong funding base TPG and MBK can marshal, as they secured a HK$4.8 billion financing package from a syndicate of more than a dozen banks to pay for Wharf T&T, which was relaunched earlier this month as WTT.
A Reuters report earlier this month, which cited several sources, said HGC could be valued from US$1.5 billion to as much as US$1.9 billion.