HK tycoon Woo seeks bidders for $1 bln-plus telecoms unit, from KKR to Anbang -sources

i-CABLE Communications

13/06/2016 09:51

* Wharf Holdings arm for sale in strategic review - sources 
    * China insurers, global buyout firms invited to bid-sources 
    * Anbang Insurance, Ping An Insurance bids sought - source 
    * KKR, CVC, TPG also invited to become suitors - sources 
    * First-round bids due by end-June - sources 
 
 (Adds context on potential China buyer interest) 
    By Denny Thomas 
    HONG KONG, June 13 (Reuters) - Hong Kong tycoon Peter Woo's 
Wharf Holdings Ltd  0004.HK  plans to sell its telecoms business 
in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion, people 
familiar with the matter said, and has asked more than a dozen 
potential suitors, including both giant Chinese insurers and 
Western buyout firms, to submit bids.  
    KKR & Co  KKR.N , CVC Capital and TPG Capital Management are 
among the companies invited to submit bids, the people told 
Reuters. First-round bids are due by end-June, they said.  
    Insurers Anbang Insurance Group and Ping An Insurance Group 
 601318.SS , as well as acquisitive technology conglomerate 
Tsinghua Unigroup, are among the other suitors invited to bid, 
one of the people said. 
    The jostling of big Chinese players and global private 
equity firms in high-profile auctions is becoming more 
commonplace. Buyers from mainland China are actively seeking 
assets, even outside their core business, in a hunt to diversify 
from a slowing economy and mitigate Chinese currency risks. 
    Chinese companies have launched about $103 billion worth of 
outbound mergers and acquisitions so far this year already, 
according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with last year's 
record $113 billion of deals. 
    Even firms that are relatively unknown outside their home 
territory have showed a willingness to pay top dollar to buy 
assets. In a hotly contested auction earlier this month, China's 
Thaihot Group  000732.SZ  beat out a number of better known and 
global players to buy Dah Sing Financial Holdings Ltd's 
 0440.HK  insurance unit for $1.4 billion - Hong Kong's most 
expensive piece of insurance M&A on record.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N18U3M2 
    Wharf Holdings, which owns some of Hong Kong's marquee 
properties including the Times Square and Harbour City shopping 
malls, said last year it was undertaking a strategic review of 
its communications, media and entertainment division. 
    That division includes a privately owned telecoms business 
called Wharf T&T - Hong Kong's second-largest business 
fixed-line operator, according to the company's website - and 
publicly traded I-cable Communications Ltd  1097.HK . 
    Wharf T&T generated about $100 million in earnings before 
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), and the 
business could be sold for a multiple of 10 or 11 times its 
EBITDA, the people familiar with the matter said, taking the 
potential deal value above $1 billion.  
    Among other suitors, Hong Kong broadband and telecoms 
service providers HKBN Ltd  1310.HK  and SmarTone 
Telecommunications Ltd have also been invited to participate in 
the auction, the people added.  
    Officials at Wharf, Anbang, Tsinghua Unigroup, KKR, TPG and 
HKBN declined to comment, while Ping An and SmartTone did not 
respond to Reuters' requests for comment.  
    The people familiar with the matter declined to be 
identified as the sale process was confidential. 
     
 ($1 = 7.7627 Hong Kong dollars) 
 
 (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Additional reporting by Tris Pan, 
Yimou Lee and Prakash Chakravarti; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) 
 ((denny.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6358; Reuters 
Messaging: denny.thomas.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: WHARF HOLDINGS TELECOMS/M&A (UPDATE 2, EXCLUSIVE