Posted on 08/10/2002 10:07:14 AM PDT by KC Burke
NEW YORK (AP) — Once worth tens of billions of dollars, Global Crossing is being sold for $250 million to the same investors who only months ago agreed to pay three times as much for the world's most extensive fiber-optic network.
The agreement announced Friday with Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong and Singapore Technologies was approved by the judge overseeing Global Crossing's bankruptcy case.
The deal provided startling proof of how fast the business of fiber-optic networks continues to disintegrate in an environment poisoned by the WorldCom accounting scandal and a global glut of capacity for Web traffic and e-commerce.
It also appears that Global Crossing's lenders and creditors made an extremely costly miscalculation in holding out for a better payoff on their debts, which totaled $12.4 billion when the company filed for bankruptcy in late January.
An outside financial adviser to Global Crossing who was called to testify at a hastily scheduled hearing early Friday said only three credible bids had been received during a lengthy auction process and that bidders were spooked by the ongoing collapse of the business.
``It's a very difficult world today in the telecommunications industry,'' said Arthur Newman, the adviser, a senior managing director for the Blackstone Group.
Under the original deal with the two Asian firms, announced in January with the bankruptcy filing, Global Crossing's debtholders would have split $300 million in cash and an additional $800 million in new notes from the company.
Now they'll still get $300 million in cash, but only $200 million in notes. They will, however, retain a larger stake of the equity in the new firm: 38.5 percent rather than the 21 percent envisioned under the earlier deal.
Meanwhile, although Hutchison and Singapore will receive a smaller controlling stake — 61.5 percent instead of the 79 percent stake rejected in the first deal — they will only being paying $125 million each in cash rather than the combined $750 million they were willing to pay in January.
Owners of Global Crossing stock will receive no stake in the reorganized company.
Lawyers for Global Crossing on Friday told the court that the company expects to file a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization in September and to emerge from bankruptcy in early 2003, subject to satisfying various contractual and regulatory conditions.
Global Crossing, which was founded by investment banker Gary Winnick in 1997, piled up its debt building a vast worldwide communications network at the height of the Internet boom.
That state-of-the-art network spans 100,000 miles, connecting more than 200 cities in 27 countries around the world.
The system includes 20 percent of undersea bandwidth connecting the United States with the rest of the world, according to the telecom research firm TeleGeography.
One of Global Crossing's most valuable assets is its 59 percent stake in Asia Global Crossing, which operates unrivaled fiber-optic links between Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and potentially China.
The Bermuda-based company had hoped to dominate the market for high-speed data communications, and at one point, enthusiastic investors boosted the company's value to nearly $50 billion
While few networks compare in size, the building frenzy of the past few years left a glut of capacity that forced down prices for bandwidth.
At the same time, the collapse of the Web economy eliminated a driving force for the explosion of online traffic that Global Crossing and its rivals were counting on to jam their networks.
Still, even in the current environment, the flow of Web usage and electronic commerce continues to grow at a steady clip.
That reality explains why certain players seem willing to buy Global Crossing's assets for what amounts to a steep discount from their origin al cost, but a hefty price tag nonetheless.
Oh, and, Thanks Terry...the data stream control would have been so cumbersom to handle...the guilt and all.
Note to self: Fiber is worthless, or at least if you loan someone $12.4 Billion to lay fiber, don't expect to get paid back any more than $300 million.Idiots. 90% of all fiber capacity isn't even being used.
Try going into a neighborhood that has 90% of its homes unoccupied and tell me how much demand there will be for housing...
Can you explain what you're saying here. I don't understand the discussion. (I am concerned with giving anything high tech to Red China, but that doesn't seem to impact what you say here.)
What do you mean when you talk about the worthlessness of Fiber? Thanks for any reply.
Fiber can be thought of like housing. You understand homes, apartments, and condos, right.Well, 90% of all fiber capacity isn't even being used. That's like going into a housing neighborhood that has 90% of its homes unoccupied. How much demand is there for housing in such a neighborhood?
Now ask yourself how much demand there is for fiber so long as 90% of it is unused.
Fiber was a fad. Everybody jumped onto the fad and built lots and lots and lots of fiber networks that nobody needed (but it made for a great "mission statement" and revved up the prices of stocks for companies laying all of that fiber, for a while).
Now the fad is over. The late-comers might still think that fiber is valuable, but they'd be dead wrong. Sooner or later everyone will realize that fiber is essentially worthless.
Sounds like I should stay away from communications companies invested heavily in fiber. Is that correct?
Outstanding, Joe. Swiped for later use.
See Tom Clancy's THe Bear and the Dragon for details.
-archy-/-
Li Ka-Shing's ties to the Chinese army has Global Crossing shareholders and Congress crying foul.
In February Li, a Chinese billionaire, put together a $750 million offer to buy out the bankrupt telecom giant Global Crossing. However, the plan by the close associate of Chinese President Jiang Zemin has come under fire from inside Congress and from Global Crossing's creditors.
Li faces competitive bids for Global Crossing made by AT&T and New York-based KAB Group LLC, which has filed an alternative plan on behalf of the shareholders that proposes to raise $5.5 billion over the next three years.
However, the financial competition over Global Crossing is now being overshadowed by the U.S. national security concerns posed by the sale to the Chinese billionaire.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., sent an urgent letter Monday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, expressing his opposition to the proposed sale of the telecom giant to Li and seeking a "full investigation" by the Defense Department into the sale.
'National Security Nightmare'
The concern is that Global Crossing holds contracts over secure Defense Department communications and that the sale to the Chinese billionaire may compromise the U.S. military. Rep. Rohrabacher expressed his concern directly to Rumsfeld, noting that a U.S. military contract "under a company owned by Li Ka-Shing would be a national security nightmare."
NewsMax.com has uncovered the documented close ties between Li and the Chinese military. One source on Capitol Hill compared Li's relationship to the Chinese army as similar to that of billionaire Howard Hughes and the CIA. The fact is that Li is directly in business with the Chinese military.
He is a founder and board member of China International Trust and Investment Corp., or CITIC. A 1997 Rand Corp. report noted that CITIC acts as a front for the People's Liberation Army.
"CITIC does enter into business partnerships with and provide logistical assistance to PLA and defense-industrial companies," noted the 1997 Rand report.
"Poly Technologies, Ltd., was founded in 1984, ostensibly as a subsidiary of CITIC, although it was later exposed to be the primary commercial arm of the PLA General Staff Department's Equipment Sub-Department. Throughout the 1980s, Poly sold hundreds of millions of dollars of largely surplus arms around the world, exporting to customers in Thailand, Burma, Iran, Pakistan, and the United States," states the Rand report.
Editor's note: Here is the text of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
March 4, 2002
The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing to call your attention and express my opposition to the potential sale of the U.S. telecommunication company Global Crossing Ltd. to a consortium headed by the Hong Kong Chinese Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. American intelligence agencies have found that Hutchison Whampoa's chairman Li Ka-shing has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist leadership and is a founder and Board member of China International Trust and Investment Corporation, which serves as a funding umbrella for the Chinese military. In addition, Li is reported to have been a close friend of General Ji Shengde, the former director of the PLA's military intelligence bureau [See attached official and press documents].
Li, who is one of Beijing's chief conduits in Hong Kong, has been involved in an anti-trust controversy in Hong Kong and widely-documented corruption in obtaining the lease of the strategic ports on the Panama Canal. Worldwide, Li and Hutchison have been involved in business practices that challenge American economic interests. Chinese military doctrine stresses information warfare and sabotage of communications systems as a key to successful assymetrical warfare against the United States. I request that the Department of Defense do a stringent review of this sale based on Li Ka-shing and Hutchison Whampoa's relationship to the People's Republic of China and on the national security ramifications for the United States.
According to the Global Crossing's literature, the company provides integrated telecommunications services over the world's most extensive global IP-based fiber-optic network. By mid-2001, the Global Crossing fiber-optic network covered 10,000 miles, reaching 27 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. Its Asian services are provided through its subsidiary, Asia Global Crossing. These networks are estimated to control over 15 percent of the fiber-optic network connecting the U.S. with Europe; 23 percent of the network with Asia, and 25 percent with South America.
Most significantly, the Global Crossing companies' clients include the U.S. military, the Department of State and other U.S. government agencies. In addition, the U.S. military and other U.S. agencies, as well as NATO use the companies' fiber-optic cables to conduct communications. In July, 2001, Global Crossing won a services contract from the Department of Defense to provide an advanced wide area network Internet service to the Defense Research and Engineering Network [DREN], which links more than 6,000 scientists and engineers at defense laboratories, test centers, universities and industry sites. DREN has also been reported to potentially link every major U.S. military command, and would potentially risk the security of all "gatekeepers" of major U.S. national security communications networks. The DREN contract was recently reopened for bidding because of Global Crossing's shortcomings. However, in the February 14, 2002, New York Times, Ms. Mary Moore, the spokeswoman for Global Crossing, said, "We think we are still in the running for this award." Needless to say, that contract under a company owned by Li Ka-shing would be a national security nightmare.
The purchase of Global Crossing would enable Mr. Li, who has previously faced monopoly-related charges in Hong Kong, of manipulating the international market. And the ownership of Global Crossing would enable Hutchison and the Chinese to gain valuable insight and access to developments in the industry that could hinder competitiveness and cutting-edge leadership of U.S. companies in the international market. Above all other issues, I must underscore that a thorough investigation of this proposed sale is of utmost importance for U.S. national security.
I look forward to hearing from you to discuss a full investigation by the Department of Defense as soon as possible. In addition, I would like a copy, in classified and unclassified form, of a study written by SOUTHCOM during the period when Gen. Wesley Clark was the CINC, related to strategic threats to the United States in Latin America, including Hutchison control of the Panama Canal. The contact person in my Washington office, who is conducting a preliminary Congressional investigation on this matter, is Mr. Al Santoli. Please contact me through Mr. Santoli at 202-225-2415. Thank you for your consideration of this vital matter.
Sincerely,
Dana Rohrabacher
Member of Congress
cc: Hon. Condoleezza Rice, National Security Council
Bermuda, eh?
Tax haven.
That would be CLINTOON's buddy who ran this Company in a tax-haven country, eh?
Congressional hearings, anyone???
Perhaps Clintoon's last gift to Red China--the broadband control.
As I am sure you recall, Poly was selling illegally to gangs in LA and elsewhere. They were caught and fined, but so what?
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