ALTHOUGH Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has withdrawn - at least temporarily - its bid to gain control of 22 per cent of Hongkong's premier television station, Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB), there are indications it will be back soon.
Last week's joint statement from News Corp and TVB's present majority shareholders, said they ''feel they need more time to re-examine the structure of their proposals to the Hongkong Broadcasting Authority and the Government''.
The proposal included a provision allowing News Corp to increase its stake to 33 per cent had the Securities and Futures Commission declared the transaction a concert party and compelled the those involved to make a bid for the company.
Under concert party rules, a general offer to all shareholders may be necessary if two or more shareholders are deemed to be acting together in a bid. It is understood that none of the parties wanted to make an outright bid.
One News Corp executive said: ''Things need to be reformulated so as to keep the regulators in Hongkong, and the officials in China, happy.
''That is especially so as we recognise that a takeover is not necessary. I think an application for News Corp to hold a 22 per cent stake will be re-submitted to the Hongkong Government.'' News Corp made its bid to buy the US$240 million stake from Sir Run Run Shaw's Shaw Brothers (Hongkong) and tycoon Robert Kuok's Kerry Holdings was made public on June 15, knowing it needed an exemption under Hongkong's Television Ordinance for the deal to go through.