LONDON: Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. plans to sell a 33% stake in its U.K. telecommunications business to a group of investors for 2.77 billion British pounds ($4.22 billion).
The Hong Kong-listed conglomerate, which is controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, said Friday it will sell a third of Hutchison 3G UK Holdings (CI) Ltd. to investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Evening Gold Investment Pte., BTG Investments, L.P., and BTG Pactual Global Partnership Investing Fund 1 LP.
Evening Gold is an affiliate of Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd., it added. Hutchison didn’t state the proportion of stakes that each party will hold in Hutchison 3G UK Holdings.
Hutchison 3G UK Holdings was set up in March after Hutchison reached a deal to buy O2 from Spain’s Telefónica SA for £9.25 billion in cash. A merger of O2 with its existing U.K. carrier, 3 UK, would boost Hutchison’s market share in the highly competitive telecommunications market.
The investor group may also pay up to £329.8 million in deferred payments involving the O2 acquisition, it added.
