The bluffing and counter-bluffing is over and the hands are revealed. No one should be surprised that Hong Kong banker Francis Leung’s US$5.2 billion purported bid for local telecom operator PCCW is in fact a careful orchestration of control for the utility by master conductor Li Ka-shing (KS Li) on behalf of mainland Chinese telecom carrier China Network Communications Group (China Netcom).
As predicted in these pages (see HK telecommunications carrier PCCW: Wrong connections, August 2006) Francis Leung has been fronting for Li senior in ensuring that three critical objectives are realized. The first is that Richard Li, KS Li’s youngest son, is extricated from his PCCW nightmare; second, that control of the company now rests with China Netcom; and third, that none of the parties involved with the carve-up was required to make an offer...
