Recent reports that Cable & Wireless was considering a $500M offer from Pacnet for its international division came to a swift end this morning. Followup reports say the company has issued a statement indicating it had ‘considered and rejected that approach’. Whether or not the potential sale of its internation division remains (or ever was) on the table is unclear. But $500M was clearly too low anyway, so the fact that the board quickly rejected it doesn’t say much. I wonder if Pacnet will raise now raise its bid, or if they were just trying to stir the pot a bit.
It’s quite a contrast in speed though to the still pending offer for XO by majority owner Carl Icahn, on which there has been no action for five months now despite the fact that the price offered is rather ludicrous. Surely that can’t go on much longer? I mean, how hard can it be?
Anyhow, I don’t think this will end the speculation about a sale of C&W’s international assets – the idea may still have legs and it does seem as if there is more than a little strategic positioning going on across the industry. But I suspect further action will be rather less public.
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Categories: Internet Backbones · Mergers and Acquisitions
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