By Mark Graham, 5 March 2001 17:40
NEWS BT today insisted it's still going ahead with the full IPO and dismissed suggestions that it had been planning instead to sell the shares at a discount to existing shareholders. Conflicting stories appeared in yesterday's papers. The Sunday Business reported the IPO was still on track, while the Sunday Telegraph claimed that BT was abandoning plans for the float in favour of a sale to its 1.8 million existing investors. Speaking to silicon.com, a spokesman for BT said: "We are sticking by what we said in November. We are still looking to float 25 per cent in the later half of the year." Following the disappointing IPO of rival Orange, analysts have said the £5bn flotation of BT Wireless should be delayed due to the poor market for mobile phone shares. Mat Hanrahan, analyst at Bloor Research, agreed that the telecoms market is currently a risky environment for a flotation but said time is not on BT's side. "There is not much joy in the telecoms market, but BT is in terrible trouble and is under a lot of pressure to clear its debt." He added: "The real danger is that pressure is going to force BT to sell assets for less than they're worth. The absolute worst extreme, which I don't believe will happen, would be selling its 3G licenses." In an attempt to cut its huge £30bn debt, advisors were formally appointed last week for the sale of £3bn worth of BT's Asian assets. Up for sale are BT's 33 per cent stake in Malaysia's Maxis, 20 per cent in Hong Kong's Smar Tone, 24 per cent in South Korea's LG Telecom and 18 per cent in Singapore's mobile operator StarHub.
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