Asia Times: News Corp, Singtel drop US$1bn investment plan



	March 1, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

News Corp, Singtel drop US$1bn investment plan

SYDNEY - Singapore Telecom has confirmed News Corp will not go ahead with its plan to invest US$1 billion in the telecommunications company.

''I can confirm the US$1 billion from News Corp will not go ahead,'' Singapore Telecom spokesman Lim Seng Jin told AAP. ''But the joint ventures we have announced - we are going ahead with them.''

News Corp's shares fell following the news of the withdrawal. Prior to the announcement, News Corp's ordinary shares were up 75 cents on the day to be at A$24.15 while its preferred scrip climbed 53.8 cents to A$20.99.

Both companies announced on Monday that News Corp would invest US$1 billion for approximately 4 percent of the issued share capital of Singapore Telecom. The investment was to help Singapore Telecom with its bid for Cable & Wireless HKT. However, Singapore Telecom withdrew from talks with C&W on Tuesday.

News Corp's US$1 billion investment now lapses.

News Corp's equity joint ventures will continue, Lim said. Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, News Corp and Singapore Telecom said the joint ventures will be in three broad areas.

Internet access, including acquisition and creation of a number of regional Internet service providers to offer a full suite of content-rich applications, Internet and e-commerce services.
Broadband delivery, including interactive TV and video-on-demand service in Singapore and the region.
The development of a mobile Internet portal to be applied across Singapore telecom's wireless businesses in Asia.

Singapore Telecom plans to leverage News Corp's worldwide content offering of its broadband service and regional Internet portal.

Both companies respective strategic venture capital units will also co-invest in promising start-up companies developing new media and Internet services and applications.

(Asia Pulse)

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