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Changes to ring for HKT

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If you believe the rumour mill in recent months, Cable & Wireless has hardly been shy about offering its Hong Kong subsidiary up for sale. Fearful of being left behind as a fringe global player, it has dumped non-core assets and refocused its business. The question seemed to be not if but when it would sell Cable & Wireless HKT.

The trouble was there seemed to be no obvious takers. With the end of its international call monopoly last month and a sweeping process of deregulation, the betting moved to a possible carve up of the company.

The planned public listing of the Star TV joint venture to offer multimedia and Internet services seemed to smack of the parent cashing in on its most promising assets. With few apparent buyers for the whole company, attention switched to the sale of stand-alone units such as the mobile division.

That, of course, was before Singapore Telecom stepped up to the plate and proposed a merger. Speculation of a union between the two incumbent operators has long been a favourite of commentators. Investors, however, were less impressed.

Both firms' share prices slumped in the aftermath until Richard Li Tzar-kai's Pacific Century CyberWorks decided to join the fray.

Now, Hong Kong is enjoying that rarest of events: a potential contested corporate takeover. With barely a shot fired, the public relations dissembling has reached frantic levels with leaks of multiple global telecoms operators purportedly queuing up to join a consortium bid.

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