CM Telecom seeks better value in Singapore listing
Paging company CM Telecom International has become the latest Hong Kong group to opt for a listing in Singapore, unveiling plans to list new shares in the island republic next month.
Details of the size of the float are not available and the company has not yet appointed underwriters. United Overseas Bank and Vickers Ballas are lead managers.
A spokesman said the company considered Singapore, where there are only two listed companies in similar business with CM Telecom, an attractive market.
'The shares will be better valued,' she said.
Net profits at the group, which was set up in 1990 by Hau Tung-ying, rose to $65.8 million in the last financial year to March, up from $23.7 million two years earlier.
The company's largest customer is state-owned China Motion Telecom Development (CMTD), controlled by the Shenzhen municipal government.
CMTD has a nationwide licence for its paging business which mainly covers the Shenzhen special economic zone and the Pearl River delta region.
CMTD, with a network of 777 transmitters, has about 610,000 subscribers, about 10 per cent of the market share in Guangdong province. The alliance between CM Telecom and CMTD facilitates a roaming service that allows Hong Kong-based pager users to use the service across the border.
Mr Hau began his career with the Guangdong Posts and Telecommunications Administrative Bureau and became its head in 1985.
He was later seconded to be the general manager for Shenda Telephone Co, a joint venture between the Shenzhen authorities and Cable & Wireless.
CMTD also appointed CM Telecom as its exclusive buying agent for telecommunications-related equipment.
