Aus Computerworld Hongkong vom 3.August 1999:
Intel to invest US$50M in HK Cyberport
initiator
By Clare Haney
IDG News Service, Hong Kong Bureau
U.S. chip giant Intel Corp. will invest US$50 million in a newly
created company -- Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. -- owned
by Hong Kong's Pacific Century Group (PCG).
The move is an attempt to push forward broadband Internet
initiatives in Asia, the companies said Sunday.
The announcement is also being seen here as providing a boost
to the Cyberport initiative since PCG is best known as the
power behind the HK$13 billion (US$1.7 billion) project.
Cyberport aims to create Hong Kong's own multimedia
development complex to boost the special administrative
region's standing in the IT world.
Intel's US$50 million investment is subject to the successful
completion of PCG's HK$2.46 billion purchase of a 75 percent
stake in local telecom services provider Tricom Holdings Ltd.
Given that Tricom shareholders approved the deal on Thursday,
the acquisition should be completed tomorrow, according to
reports in yesterday's press. Tricom will then be renamed
Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.
Pacific Century CyberWorks will become PCG's flagship IT
operation with the task to both handle the Cyberport
negotiations with the Hong Kong government and to invest in
both local and international IT and Internet companies. The new
company will also subsume Intel's existing broadband joint
venture with PCG, known as Pacific Convergence Corp. (PCC),
the firms said in a statement issued Sunday. PCC will become a
wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Century CyberWorks.
Intel and PCG formed PCC in March of last year, with the Hong
Kong company holding a 60 percent share to Intel's 40 percent.
When added together, Intel's stake in PCC plus the chip giant's
upcoming US$50 million investment will give the U.S. company
about a 13 percent stake in Pacific Century CyberWorks.
Additionally, under the terms of the agreement, Intel will supply
the necessary hardware in terms of set-top boxes and servers
based on its own chip architecture to support Pacific Century
CyberWorks' broadband ambitions, according to Sunday's
statement.
On PCG's Web site, the company talks about its
yet-to-be-launched broadband and 'Net operations enabling it to
become the leading 'Net service, content and electronic provider
reaching 110 million households across Asia. Specifics on
exactly how PCG hopes to achieve such a goal are still sketchy,
although company executives are promising to begin delivery of
broadband services later this year.
Privately held PCG operates in the areas of digital media
development, financial services and infrastructure.