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Macquarie confirms PCCW talks
 PCCW's assets include its broadband business. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSSYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australian investment bank Macquarie Bank confirmed Wednesday that it has held preliminary talks with Hong Kong's PCCW Ltd. about buying some of its assets. PCCW said in Hong Kong on Monday that an "independent party" had made a non-binding expression of interest in buying its core phone and media assets. On Tuesday, PCCW dismissed as "speculative" reports that the interested party could pay up to $5 billion for the assets. PCCW's total market capitalization is about $4.16 billion. However, a media report in Hong Kong on Wednesday said a U.S. rival to Macquarie, the Texas Pacific Group, has proposed a bid of more than $6 billion. PCCW, Hong Kong's biggest phone company, is controlled by Pacific Century Regional Developments, the Singapore-listed investment vehicle of entrepreneur Richard Li, son of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. Li stepped down as PCCW's chief executive in 2003, but remains chairman. Li's company PCRD holds 24 percent of PCCW. Another key shareholder is state-owned phone company China Networks Communications Group, which paid $1 billion for a 20 percent share last year. China Netcom, as it is known, said on Tuesday it did not want to see any changes in PCCW, nor any changes in its assets, Reuters reported. Macquarie said Wednesday it was part of a "potential consortium" talking to PCCW. "These discussions are at a very early stage and it is far too early to predict whether they will result in a transaction," it said in a statement released to the Australian Stock Exchange. "The bank will update the market if and when any transaction progresses." According to a report in the South China Morning Post newspaper Wednesday, Newbridge Capital, the Asian investment arm of U.S. private equity company Texas Pacific Group, has offered more than HK$50 billion ($6.4 billion) for PCCW's media and telecom assets. Trading suspendedShares in PCCW and related companies Sunday Communications and Pacific Century Premium Developments were suspended in Hong Kong Monday. PCRD shares in Singapore also were suspended. On Tuesday, when trading resumed, PCCW shares closed 8 percent higher at HK$5.20. They were suspended again on Wednesday. In 2000, Li's PCCW, then known as Pacific Century CyberWorks, bought Hong Kong Telecom for $28.5 billion from London-based Cable & Wireless. PCCW out-bid Singapore Telecom to win the Hong Kong fixed-line phone company. Later that year, Li struck an alliance with Australia's Telstra to create a number of joint ventures, including the Reach submarine cable business and the CSL mobile phone business. The deal proved costly for Telstra, which ended up writing down many hundreds of millions of dollars on its Hong Kong ventures. Along with its fixed-line phone business, PCCW has property, mobile phone and pay-TV assets. Macquarie Bank, best known for its global infrastructure plays involving toll roads, airports and water utilities, made its first Asian media acquisition in December 2005, when it bought 40 percent of Taiwan Broadband. 
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