Bidders close in on Singapore's MobileOne

By staff and wire reports

SINGAPORE -- The billion-dollar race to acquire Singapore's second-ranked wireless group MobileOne has moved toward a conclusion, with a key deadline for expressions of interest passing late on Monday.

Among the handful of regional and global telecoms said to be vying for M1 are UK-based Vodafone Group plc, France's Orange and Regional Wireless Co., a joint venture of Australia's Telstra and Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks.

Another bidder is thought to be Malaysia's Maxis Communications, while early runner Singapore Telecommunications last week pulled out of the race citing regulatory hurdles.

The deadline for offers passed at 5pm local time in Singapore (1000 GMT) on Monday with no statement from the company or its handful of shareholders, nor any of the bidders.

Sources said it was unlikely M1 or any of its group of shareholders would immediately reveal how many bids had been received, or which companies had made offers.

Sources told CNN the Monday deadline was not the definitive cut-off date for offers, and there would be a long road ahead in the bidding process once all offers had rolled in.

For that reason, the source indicated there would be little communication from any party to the public until a formal takeover agreement had been struck.

A front-runner in the race is Hong Kong-based Regional Wireless Co, since PCCW is already a 15 per cent shareholder of M1.

Telstra, PCCW circling

Last week, after PCCW held its annual shareholders meeting, chairman and major shareholder Richard Li said, "we will submit a bid on a possible acquisition of MobileOne" by early this week.

Telstra is said to be eager to use M1 as a further springboard into Asia, having already secured control of PCCW's Hong Kong mobile business.

But a Regional Wireless Co. spokeswoman refused to comment on the speculation, saying there was no cause for either Telstra or PCCW to disclose anything to their respective stock exchanges.

The two companies recently stitched up an alliance covering mobiles, Internet backbone and data storage.

M1 is Singapore's second-ranked wireless company behind Singapore Telecommunications, with about 800,000 customers and a market value of up to $1.4 billion.

Launching services in 1997, M1 posted profits of $US84 million on $US605 million revenue for calendar 2000.

Funding secured

According to various media reports, Telstra and PCCW have secured funding from three international banks to furnish its offer of approximately $1.2 billion for M1, which takes into account the value of PCCW's existing stake.

PCCW acquired its 15 per cent stake as a result of its $US30 billion ($55 billion) takeover of Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Telecom in August last year.

The other key shareholders comprise Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (Keppel T&T) with 35 percent each, and UK-based Cable & Wireless plc with the remaining 15 percent.

Keppel chairman Lim Chee Onn was reported recently saying all bids must be submitted by Monday, May 28.

JP Morgan is advising SPH and Keppel T&T on the sale while Merrill Lynch is advising C&W and CyberWorks.