Hutchison, STT win Global Crossing bid

Global Crossing today signed a definitive agreement under which Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. and Singapore Technologies Telemedia will invest $250 million for a 61.5% interest in Global Crossing upon its emergence from bankruptcy.

The agreement, which was approved today in a hearing before the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, is significantly lower than the $750 million the two companies offered for a controlling stake in January. That bid was rejected by creditors, who felt they could get a higher bid by delaying the auction. A company-backed plan also was offered up at the time.

Under the current plan, Global Crossing will file a new plan of reorganization in September and emerge from bankruptcy in early 2003.

The terms of the Hutchison and ST Telemedia agreement give Global Crossing’s banks and creditors 38.5% of the common equity in Global Crossing, $300 million in cash and $200 million of new debt in the form of senior notes. Existing common and preferred shareholders will get nothing.

--Vince Vittore, Executive News Editor