++PCC++NEWS++vom 13. Jan++

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1186 PAC CENT CYBER 17.250




13:59 13-JAN-2000
RESEARCH ALERT-Merrill keeps PCCW <1186.HK> as buy

HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch said it maintained a buy rating on Hong Kong-based Internet and communications firm Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW).

"Positive newsflow has made PCCW the second-largest Internet company in Asia after Softbank <9984.T>, with a market cap of US$19 billion," Matei Mihalca, a Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Internet analyst, said in a report dated January 12. "The price appreciated from HK$6.75 on December 1 to HK$19.65 on January 3, a high. It could be argued that in the last month PCCW has come of age as a global Internet player." Merrill Lynch said it had a 12-month target price of HK$25 for the share. "Our HK$25 price objective assumes that PCCW will trade at a 100 percent premium to its net asset value, between the 50-100 percent of Softbank in Japan and the 200-500 percent of CMGI and the Internet Capital Group in the U.S.," it said. Shares of PCCW stood at HK$15.90 at the close of the Thursday morning session, down 0.625 percent.

PCCW has signed a letter of intent to take a five percent stake in Horizon.com, with an option to buy another 10 percent, an official of DBS Bank said on Thursday.

DBS Bank is lead manager of the initial public offer of Horizon.com, an Internet-based company seeking a listing on the Singapore Exchange.

((Hong Kong Newsroom +852 2843 6441, Fax +852 2845 0636 hongkong newsroom@reuters.com)) .


09:20 13-JAN-2000
PCCW <1186.HK>sees US$1.3 bln gain by venture fund

HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Internet and communications firm Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) has gained a paper profit of US$1.3 billion from investments in 28 Internet-related projects in the past six months, according to PCCW chairman Richard Li. Most of the investments were made by PCCW's venture capital fund, CyberWorks Ventures, local newspapers quoted Li as saying in a radio interview on Wednesday.

PCCW officials were not immediately available for comment.

CyberWorks had set aside US$200 million for CyberWorks Ventures to acquire Internet-related assets but less than US$60 million had been used so far, Li said. Most of the major investments were made through share swaps, he added. Li also said PCCW would purchase through the venture capital fund a stake of less than 10 percent in a web portal, tom.com Ltd, to be launched jointly by Cheung Kong (Holding) Ltd <0001.HK> and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd <0013.HK> next week. Li is a deputy chairman of Hutchison and the younger son of Cheung Kong group chairman Li Ka-shing.

Market talk said the Cheung Kong group would seek a separate listing for tom.com Ltd on the U.S. technology-heavy Nasdaq market, the newspapers said. PCCW is a subsidiary of Singapore listed Pacific Century Regional Developments Ltd .

((Hong Kong Newsroom +852 2843-6369, Fax +852 2845-0636 hongkong.newsroom@reuters.com)) .


Market News

09:18 13-JAN-2000
Macquarie Bank sets PCCW <1186.HK> call warrants


HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Macquarie Bank Ltd
said it issued 210 million European-style call warrants on shares
of Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd <1186.HK>.
Ten warrants control one share.
STRIKE PRICE HK$16.00 PREMIUM 35.3 PCT
ISSUE PRICE HK$0.565 GEARING 2.83x
LAUNCH DATE JAN 11, 2000 MIN EXER LOT 10,000
EXPIRATION AUG 25, 2000 LISTING HONG KONG
REFERENCE SPOT HK$16.00 PAYDATE JAN 18, 2000
GOVERNING LAW HONG KONG LISTING DATE JAN 20, 2000
NOTE CASH SETTLEMENT.
((Hong Kong Newsroom (852) 2843 6570; Fax (852) 2845 0636,
Email: hongkong.newsroom@reuters.com))