| Two sovereign-wealth funds, two pension funds and an investment bank will put up as much as $4.7 billion. Hutchison Whampoa, Asian billionaire Li Ka-shing’s acquisitive conglomerate, said Friday that Singapore and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign-wealth funds are among investors paying up to £3.1 billion ($4.7 billion) for a third of the Hong Kong company’s soon-to-be enlarged British cellphone operations.
The stake sale is in line with Hutchison’s strategy of using as little debt as possible to pay for acquisitions, which have accelerated this year in Europe. Earlier this year, Hutchison, already owner of U.K. wireless company Three, said it was buying U.K. mobile-phone operator O2 from Spain’s Telefonica SA for £9.25 billion, plus up to £1 billion later if the newly combined company meets cash-flow targets. The stake sale will reduce Hutchison’s outlay by a third...............................................Full Article: Source
|