13:59 13-JAN-2000
RESEARCH ALERT-Merrill keeps PCCW <1186.HK> as buy
HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch said it maintained a buy
rating on Hong Kong-based Internet and communications firm Pacific
Century CyberWorks (PCCW).
"Positive newsflow has made PCCW the second-largest Internet company
in Asia after Softbank <9984.T>, with a market cap of US$19 billion," Matei Mihalca, a Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific
Internet analyst, said in a report dated January 12. "The price appreciated from HK$6.75 on December 1 to
HK$19.65 on January 3, a high. It could be argued that in the last month PCCW has come of age as a global
Internet player." Merrill Lynch said it had a 12-month target price of HK$25 for the share. "Our HK$25 price
objective assumes that PCCW will trade at a 100 percent premium to its net asset value, between the 50-100 percent
of Softbank in Japan and the 200-500 percent of CMGI and the Internet Capital Group in the U.S.," it said. Shares
of PCCW stood at HK$15.90 at the close of the Thursday morning session, down 0.625 percent.
PCCW has signed a letter of intent to take a five percent stake in Horizon.com, with an option to buy another 10
percent, an official of DBS Bank said on Thursday.
DBS Bank is lead manager of the initial public offer of Horizon.com, an Internet-based company seeking a listing
on the Singapore Exchange.
9:20 13-JAN-2000
PCCW <1186.HK>sees US$1.3 bln gain by venture fund
HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Internet and communications firm
Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) has gained a paper profit of
US$1.3 billion from investments in 28 Internet-related projects in the past
six months, according to PCCW chairman Richard Li. Most of the
investments were made by PCCW's venture capital fund, CyberWorks
Ventures, local newspapers quoted Li as saying in a radio interview on
Wednesday.
PCCW officials were not immediately available for comment.
CyberWorks had set aside US$200 million for CyberWorks Ventures to acquire Internet-related assets but less
than US$60 million had been used so far, Li said. Most of the major investments were made through share swaps,
he added. Li also said PCCW would purchase through the venture capital fund a stake of less than 10 percent in a
web portal, tom.com Ltd, to be launched jointly by Cheung Kong (Holding) Ltd <0001.HK> and Hutchison
Whampoa Ltd <0013.HK> next week. Li is a deputy chairman of Hutchison and the younger son of Cheung Kong
group chairman Li Ka-shing.
Market talk said the Cheung Kong group would seek a separate listing for tom.com Ltd on the U.S.
technology-heavy Nasdaq market, the newspapers said. PCCW is a subsidiary of Singapore listed Pacific Century
Regional Developments Ltd .
RESEARCH ALERT-Merrill keeps PCCW <1186.HK> as buy
HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch said it maintained a buy
rating on Hong Kong-based Internet and communications firm Pacific
Century CyberWorks (PCCW).
"Positive newsflow has made PCCW the second-largest Internet company
in Asia after Softbank <9984.T>, with a market cap of US$19 billion," Matei Mihalca, a Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific
Internet analyst, said in a report dated January 12. "The price appreciated from HK$6.75 on December 1 to
HK$19.65 on January 3, a high. It could be argued that in the last month PCCW has come of age as a global
Internet player." Merrill Lynch said it had a 12-month target price of HK$25 for the share. "Our HK$25 price
objective assumes that PCCW will trade at a 100 percent premium to its net asset value, between the 50-100 percent
of Softbank in Japan and the 200-500 percent of CMGI and the Internet Capital Group in the U.S.," it said. Shares
of PCCW stood at HK$15.90 at the close of the Thursday morning session, down 0.625 percent.
PCCW has signed a letter of intent to take a five percent stake in Horizon.com, with an option to buy another 10
percent, an official of DBS Bank said on Thursday.
DBS Bank is lead manager of the initial public offer of Horizon.com, an Internet-based company seeking a listing
on the Singapore Exchange.
9:20 13-JAN-2000
PCCW <1186.HK>sees US$1.3 bln gain by venture fund
HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Internet and communications firm
Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) has gained a paper profit of
US$1.3 billion from investments in 28 Internet-related projects in the past
six months, according to PCCW chairman Richard Li. Most of the
investments were made by PCCW's venture capital fund, CyberWorks
Ventures, local newspapers quoted Li as saying in a radio interview on
Wednesday.
PCCW officials were not immediately available for comment.
CyberWorks had set aside US$200 million for CyberWorks Ventures to acquire Internet-related assets but less
than US$60 million had been used so far, Li said. Most of the major investments were made through share swaps,
he added. Li also said PCCW would purchase through the venture capital fund a stake of less than 10 percent in a
web portal, tom.com Ltd, to be launched jointly by Cheung Kong (Holding) Ltd <0001.HK> and Hutchison
Whampoa Ltd <0013.HK> next week. Li is a deputy chairman of Hutchison and the younger son of Cheung Kong
group chairman Li Ka-shing.
Market talk said the Cheung Kong group would seek a separate listing for tom.com Ltd on the U.S.
technology-heavy Nasdaq market, the newspapers said. PCCW is a subsidiary of Singapore listed Pacific Century
Regional Developments Ltd .
