Hutchison Telecom, which recently agreed to sell its India unit to UK mobile giant Vodafone, may sell its assets in other emerging markets such as Thailand to Egyptian firm Orascom, a Chinese media report said.
HTIL may sell its business in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and other emerging markets to Orascom and its Hong Kong business to its parent firm Hutchison Whampoa, Chinese daily The Standard said, quoting investment bank UBS.
The daily, which is published from Hong Kong, said HTIL might grab the opportunity to sell its assets in developing markets to Orascom Telecom, which holds a 19.3 per cent stake in the company.
According to the report, UBS expected HTIL to distribute a special dividend by using a large portion of the profit from the Vodafone deal. HTIL had said it will earn a pre-tax exceptional profit of $9.6 billion on the sale.
The report said while HTIL's Hong Kong business may be sold to Hutchison Whampoa, the chances of HTIL buying European and Australian third-generation business from its parent company in return, were quite slim.
Meanwhile, global investment research firm CLSA estimates the full-year net profit of HTIL to reach HKD 530 million after the company announced a HKD 109 million profit for the first three quarters of 2006.
The company had announced profit for the period reached HKD 1.13 billion, rebounding from a loss of HKD 128 million for the same period in the previous year.
