PCCW-NEWS!

PACIFIC CENTURY CYBERWORKS AND SING TEL TO JOIN FORCES!

Monday, May 8 11:29 AM SGT

MARKET TALK-SG-KL: SingTel, CyberWorks To Join Forces?
1126 [Dow Jones] SINGAPORE: Vague and apparently far-fetched rumor circulating that SingTel (S12) may soon unveil partnership with Pacific Century Regional Development's (P60) HK unit CyberWorks, probably also involving U.S. telecoms company, to buy Cable & Wireless HKT; follows reports SingTel considering bid with China-based company for HKT as well as reports it may jointly bid for HKT with Australia's News Corp. Dealers say SingTel may now be eyeing HKT as it's no longer overly keen on Time Engineering (4456) deal due to increasing opposition in Malaysia. SingTel now up 4 Singapore cents at S$2.40.(AXH)
1123 [Dow Jones] SINGAPORE: Avaplas, maker of precision plastic parts for consumer electronics products, issues 36 million shares at 27 Singapore cents each in IPO; price represents fairly attractive multiple of 12.2x EPS of 2.19 Singapore cents for FY99. Offer closes May 15; shares to trade on Sesdaq May 17.(CLW)

1105 [Dow Jones] SINGAPORE: Index futures little changed, consolidating around 280 amid expectations STI will remain in narrow trading range before expected U.S. interest rate hike. May MSCI Singapore index futures up 0.3 point at 282.3 on low volume of 615 contracts, while MSCI spot index down 1.91 points at 282.14.(AXH)

The Hong Kong investment, Telstra's biggest ever outside
Australia, is dependent on Cyberworks' proposed investment in HKT
proceeding. CyberWorks shares have fallen almost one-third since
it announced its cash and stock offer for HKT Feb. 29. The
Cyberworks, HKT agreement is due to be completed by August.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd. and News Corp., which lost out to
CyberWorks in the original bid for HKT, made a counter offer for
Hong Kong's biggest phone company.

Switkowski said today that Richard Li's Cyberworks has an
irrevocable acceptance of an offer from Cable & Wireless for their
shares in its Hong Kong operations. ``There are certainly
milestones yet to be crossed -- shareholder votes etc. that need
to be won, but on the basis on their information to me, they feel
very solid about the likelihood of that deal going through.''

Telstra's shares have also been hit after its credit ratings
were downgraded this week. The company will face higher borrowing
costs after Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's cut
its long-term corporate credit rating because it plans to fund
expansion into Asia using debt.

Increased Cost

``It will add several basis points of cost to our interest
charges for our debt,'' said Switkowski. ``That's a A$10 million a
year impost if it's established.''

Telstra will sell as much as A$5 billion worth of bonds to
fund its investment in CyberWorks. That, along with plans to sell
a further A$4 billion bonds, will double the value of Telstra's
issue to around A$18 billion and boost its debt-to-equity ratio to
50 percent, from 40 percent.


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Wie wäre es mit einer Übersetzung auf Deutsch?  Ein Dankeschön im Vorraus !!

PCCW (1186) BUY

$15.15

We participated in PCCW's analyst briefing last Friday in which PCCW announced its content JV with ERA, GigaMedia (code: GIGM) and Koos Group.

Highlights of the briefing:

A JV (JV1) will be formed by GigaMedia, a subsidiary of Koos Group, (51%), ERA (45%) and Koos Group (4%). JV1 will form another JV (JV2) with PCCW for content production. JV1 will hold a 45% stake in JV2 with PCCW holding 55%. JV1 will have exclusive worldwide distribution rights for content produced by JV2.

JV2 will produce Chinese Internet content that will be available to PCCW and GigaMedia for distribution on their NOW and GigaNet services. JV2 will have exclusive Internet rights to ERA's existing and future content. It also intends to seek an IPO at an appropriate time.

Strengthen The Chinese Internet Content Of NOW. The content JV (JV2) will give PCCW access to ERA's production facilities. ERA generates over 3,500 hours of original Chinese TV content per year and is believed to be the largest non-state-owned media enterprise in Taiwan.

Potential Access To The Most Extensive Cable Network In Taiwan. The co-operation potentially gives ERA.com branded content access to the cable television network of Koos Group and GigaMedia. It is also possible that PCCW will further co-operate with Koos Group to distribute other NOW Internet content in Taiwan.

Additionally, GigaMedia is a leading provider of broadband Internet access services and content through its cable-based television network infrastructure in Taiwan, including the cable network of Koos Group. It has access to 3.6mn households and 465,000 small and medium sized businesses, of which over 85% are exclusive.

Hier werden wirklich Planungen realisiert,Inhalt für Chinesische Internetseiten und für Kabelfernsehen.Gigamedia hat Zugang zu 3,6 Millionen Haushalten und 465000 kleinere und mittelgrosse Unternehmen.      Langfristig auf jeden Fall ein gutes Investment,jedoch vorerst schwerlich Gewinne.