• briefing asia infrastructure aug 15, 2006 • briefing asia energy aug 15, 2006

Mobile Pursues $5.3 Billion Acquisition
(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA) By Jason Singer
China Mobile Communications Corp. is near a $5.3 billion agreement to acquire Millicom International Cellular SA of Luxembourg, operator of mobile-telephone services in many of the world's poorest nations, in what would be the biggest overseas acquisition to date by a Chinese company.
The Chinese company is in the final stages of signing an agreement to buy Nasdaq-listed Millicom for $48 a share in cash, according to people familiar with the situation. The deal still hinges on several layers of administrative approvals in China.
The purchase of Millicom would be the first overseas acquisition by China Mobile, the world's largest cellular-phone service by number of subscribers. Spreading Beijing's commercial interests further into the world's emerging markets, the deal would also open major new markets to a host of Chinese suppliers, such as telecommunications-equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. With China Mobile and Millicom suggesting that China Mobile's access to Chinese suppliers is one benefit of a deal, that indicates current Millicom suppliers, including Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, could lose out on lucrative contracts in many of the world's fastest-growing mobile-phone markets. An Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment.
Gao Songge, deputy director of China Mobile's General Department, said, 'The talks are still going on . . . there's no news for disclosure for now.' A Millicom spokesman declined to comment.
The potential deal also underlines China's strategy to hop-scotch wealthy nations and use its swelling financial firepower to invest directly in the world's faster-growing emerging markets. The move comes after some attempts by Chinese companies to acquire assets in wealthy nations, such as an $18 billion bid for Unocal Corp. of the U.S. last year, were blocked on political grounds.
Increasingly, Chinese state-controlled companies are buying strategic assets in developing regions. The biggest overseas acquisition for a Chinese company to date is state-controlled CNPC International Ltd.'s $4 billion deal last year for Petrokazakhstan Inc., which controls oil fields in Kazakhstan.
Other recent Chinese deals have been completed in Nigeria, Ecuador and Peru, and more are being sought in Russia and Sri Lanka. China Mobile's most recent attempt to expand overseas failed. It was one of the final three bidders for a 26% stake in Pakistan Telecommunications Co. last year, but the stake eventually went to Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat, of the United Arab Emirates.
Millicom has 10 million subscribers in 16 countries, including El Salvador, Chad and Cambodia. The company is known for operating with limited resources and analysts say it has lacked investment needed to expand the businesses. Millicom employs about 40 people in its Luxembourg headquarters, which is an unassuming office in the basement of a villa, with much of the group management taking place in the various regions where the company has operations.
'If you look at Millicom, it's like a plant that needs water,' said John Strand, a Copenhagen-based consultant who advises telecom companies around the world. 'Millicom's main problem is that investment has been quite limited; in each region they've been told to grow organically.'
Millicom reported a 16% rise in subscribers for the three months ended March 31, and a profit of $33.4 million, compared with a loss of $11.3 million a year earlier. The company said revenue rose 20% to $322 million.
China Mobile is expected to keep Millicom as a separate international arm for the near future, operating with some autonomy, people close to the matter said. The deal will be contingent on the Chinese company receiving at least 75% of Millicom's shares. In Luxembourg, an acquiring company needs to receive at least 95% of a company's shares to take it private, so it is likely Millicom would remain publicly traded. Millicom's top executives are expected to remain in their positions to manage the operations.
China Mobile intends to spend aggressively to build more extensive networks in the African, Asian and Central American markets where Millicom has operations, using China's vast industry of low-cost suppliers, people familiar with the talks said. China Mobile has been looking to expand at the same time that cash is pouring in because the company has been adding as many as four million subscribers a month.
Millicom has already been buying more equipment and services from Chinese companies. Chinese companies sent a chartered jet filled with engineers and designers to build a network in Ghana for Millicom; Chinese companies also recently built infrastructure for third-generation mobile-phone service for Millicom in Mauritius. A private Swedish trust and Investment AB Kinnevik, a Swedish family-controlled holding company, together own about 40% of Millicom.
China Mobile several years ago passed China Telecommunications Corp. in revenue and subscribers to become the largest of the four major state-run telecom companies in China. Use of wireless technology leapt over that of traditional fixed lines as phone service became widespread in China only during the past 10 years, decades after more-developed countries.
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Cui Rong, Evan Ramstad and Cassell Bryan-Low contributed to this article.
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Document DJCFWE0020060525e25p00106

China Mobile pursues $5.3 billion acquisition
By Jason Singer

891 words

25 May 2006

The Wall Street Journal Asia

AWSJ

1

English

(c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To see the edition in which this article appeared, click here http://awsj.com.hk/factiva-ns
China Mobile Communications Corp. is near a $5.3 billion agreement to acquire Millicom International Cellular SA of Luxembourg, operator of mobile-telephone services in many of the world's poorest nations, in what would be the biggest overseas acquisition to date by a Chinese company.
The Chinese company is in the final stages of signing an agreement to buy Nasdaq-listed Millicom for $48 a share in cash, according to people familiar with the situation. The deal still hinges on several layers of administrative approvals in China.
The purchase of Millicom would be the first overseas acquisition by China Mobile, the world's largest cellular-phone service by number of subscribers. Spreading Beijing's commercial interests further into the world's emerging markets, the deal would also open major new markets to a host of Chinese suppliers, such as telecommunications-equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. With China Mobile and Millicom suggesting that China Mobile's access to Chinese suppliers is one benefit of a deal, that indicates current Millicom suppliers, including Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, could lose out on lucrative contracts in many of the world's fastest-growing mobile-phone markets. An Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment.
Gao Songge, deputy director of China Mobile's General Department, said, "The talks are still going on . . . there's no news for disclosure for now." A Millicom spokesman declined to comment.
The potential deal also underlines China's strategy to hop-scotch wealthy nations and use its swelling financial firepower to invest directly in the world's faster-growing emerging markets. The move comes after some attempts by Chinese companies to acquire assets in wealthy nations, such as an $18 billion bid for Unocal Corp. of the U.S. last year, were blocked on political grounds.
Increasingly, Chinese state-controlled companies are buying strategic assets in developing regions. The biggest overseas acquisition for a Chinese company to date is state-controlled CNPC International Ltd.'s $4 billion deal last year for Petrokazakhstan Inc., which controls oil fields in Kazakhstan.
Other recent Chinese deals have been completed in Nigeria, Ecuador and Peru, and more are being sought in Russia and Sri Lanka. China Mobile's most recent attempt to expand overseas failed. It was one of the final three bidders for a 26% stake in Pakistan Telecommunications Co. last year, but the stake eventually went to Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat, of the United Arab Emirates.
Millicom has 10 million subscribers in 16 countries, including El Salvador, Chad and Cambodia. The company is known for operating with limited resources and analysts say it has lacked investment needed to expand the businesses. Millicom employs about 40 people in its Luxembourg headquarters, which is an unassuming office in the basement of a villa, with much of the group management taking place in the various regions where the company has operations.
"If you look at Millicom, it's like a plant that needs water," said John Strand, a Copenhagen-based consultant who advises telecom companies around the world. "Millicom's main problem is that investment has been quite limited; in each region they've been told to grow organically."
Millicom reported a 16% rise in subscribers for the three months ended March 31, and a profit of $33.4 million, compared with a loss of $11.3 million a year earlier. The company said revenue rose 20% to $322 million.
China Mobile is expected to keep Millicom as a separate international arm for the near future, operating with some autonomy, people close to the matter said. The deal will be contingent on the Chinese company receiving at least 75% of Millicom's shares. In Luxembourg, an acquiring company needs to receive at least 95% of a company's shares to take it private, so it is likely Millicom would remain publicly traded. Millicom's top executives are expected to remain in their positions to manage the operations.
China Mobile intends to spend aggressively to build more extensive networks in the African, Asian and Central American markets where Millicom has operations, using China's vast industry of low-cost suppliers, people familiar with the talks said. China Mobile has been looking to expand at the same time that cash is pouring in because the company has been adding as many as four million subscribers a month.
Millicom has already been buying more equipment and services from Chinese companies. Chinese companies sent a chartered jet filled with engineers and designers to build a network in Ghana for Millicom; Chinese companies also recently built infrastructure for third-generation mobile-phone service for Millicom in Mauritius. A private Swedish trust and Investment AB Kinnevik, a Swedish family-controlled holding company, together own about 40% of Millicom.
China Mobile several years ago passed China Telecommunications Corp. in revenue and subscribers to become the largest of the four major state-run telecom companies in China. Use of wireless technology leapt over that of traditional fixed lines as phone service became widespread in China only during the past 10 years, decades after more-developed countries.
---
Cui Rong, Evan Ramstad and Cassell Bryan-Low contributed to this article.
(See related letter: "Letters to the Editor: Chinese Wireless Purchase Would Be Good for West" -- WSJA May 31, 2006)
Document AWSJ000020060524e25p0000j

TwinTrader.com Alerts for Tuesday, May 23, 2006 OWHC, SRLM, RSHN, NNSR and CHCG.
1,696 words

23 May 2006

M2 Presswire

MTPW

English

(c) 2006 M2 Communications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Dallas, Texas - TwinTrader Morning Alerts. Here are the stocks the TwinTraders are watching today:
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Ocean West Holding Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary, InfoByPhone, operates as a communications technology company. InfoByPhone, through its Web site, www.Askmenow.com , provides users with access to information on mobile cellular devices. The company's AskMeNow mobile information content service enables the users of mobile devices to request an answer to a question. This service enables them to ask the questions through email, SMS/text message, or a simple phone call; and the answer is text messaged or emailed back to the consumer's mobile device. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Vero Beach, Florida.
Sterling Mining Company (OTC:SRLM) - traded up 1% on 113,677 shares.
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RushNet, Inc. (OTC: RSHN) - traded up 3% on 43,188,033 shares.
RushNet, Inc. provides beverage products in the United States and Canada. It offers cane-sugar sweetened and natural soda beverages under the Ginseng Rush, Ginseng Rush XXX, and Rush Herbal Cola trademarks. The company also offers electrolyte water under the e-Water trademark. RushNet sells its products through distributors and online. The company was formerly known as V-Net Beverage, Inc. and changed its name to RushNet, Inc. in July 2005. RushNet is based in Blue Island, Illinois.
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Nanosensors, Inc., a development stage company, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of sensors and instruments in the United States. These sensors are designed to detect specified levels of targeted specific biological, chemical, and explosive agents in areas that are a risk in the post 9/11-era. The company's technology operates in the nano-scale of ten to the minus ninth meters and is sensitive to the presence of nano-scale size molecules of B-C-X agents using nano-scale surface structures to detect the presence of these molecules at nano concentrations. Nanosensors was co-founded by Ted Wong and Matthew Zuckerman. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Xechem International, Inc. (OTCBB: CHCG) - traded up 20% on 227,661 shares.
Xechem International, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, and production of generic and proprietary drugs from natural sources. Its principal product under development is NICOSAN/HEMOXIN, which would be used for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The company also applies its proprietary extraction, isolation, and purification technology to the production and manufacture of Paclitaxel, which is an anti-cancer compound used for the treatment of ovarian, breast, small cell lung cancers, and AIDS-related kaposi sarcomas. In addition, Xechem International engages in the research and development of other compounds using traditional medicinal plants, microbial fermentation, or semisynthesis to produce anti-cancer, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and memory-enhancing compounds. It operates in the United States, India, the People's Republic of China, and Nigeria. The company was founded by Ramesh C. Pandey in 1994. Xechem International is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
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DISCLAIMER & RISK DISCLOSURE - Ocean West Holding Corp. (OTCBB: OWHC)
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