Tycoon Li Ka-shing has picked up an apparent bargain, buying joint control of bankrupt United States telecoms company Global Crossing for US$250 million (HK$1.9 billion).
The firm has assets worth an estimated US$22 billion.
A US bankruptcy court last night approved the joint bid by Mr Li's Hutchison Telecommunications and Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT).
The price is a third of the US$750 million the Asian partners bid for 79 per cent of Global Crossing in January. Under the revised bid, Hutchison and STT will hold a 61.5 per cent majority stake in the company.
Global Crossing's creditors, who supported the agreement, will receive the other 38.5 per cent, US$300 million in cash and US$200 million in new debt. Existing shareholders will lose everything.
The agreement brings to a close a seven-month quest to salvage a one-time market darling that at its peak had a market capitalisation of over US$40 billion. It gives Hutchison joint control of a network of undersea fibre-optic cables connecting 200 major cities in 27 countries.
Global Crossing shares soared amid the euphoria for technology companies in the late 1990s but it was undermined by a glut of high-speed network capacity that drove down prices.