PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai has resurfaced from his diving holiday to assure investors that rumours of his death are greatly exaggerated - and leak more information about the fixed-line provider's talks on the still pending tie-up with China Netcom Group.
Looking re-energised and more rounded since he was last snapped by the press last month, Mr Li met reporters at a hastily convened event yesterday afternoon.
It was the first PCCW press conference he has presided over in more than two years, and coincided with a Next magazine report about his Christmas holiday in the Maldives. Rumours had been swirling that Mr Li had been injured or worse in the tsunami tragedy.
'There have been so many rumours surrounding my personal safety, I just want to personally wish you all good health in the new year,' Mr Li said.
He also spoke of PCCW's protracted share-sale talks with Netcom for the first time. 'We are not looking at [Netcom] taking a controlling stake in PCCW,' he said.
Last month, PCCW formally announced it was in talks to sell a 20 per cent stake to Netcom, parent of main-board firm China Netcom Group Corp.
Mr Li confirmed that in addition to the share sale, the two firms will form a joint venture in southern China that is likely to use Netcom's mainland networks.
