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Li Ka-shing eyes O2 UK

Hardy GraupnerJanuary 23, 2015

Hong-Kong based Hutchinson Whampoa is set to acquire the UK's O2, according to newspaper reports. The move could create Britain's biggest mobile phone group, with some expecting a deal to be announced shortly.

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Li Ka-shing (Photo: ddp images/AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Image: AP

Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, was reported Friday to be in talks to buy Britain's O2 mobile phone network.

The Hong Kong tycoon's Hutchison Whampoa wanted to acquire the company as yet another in a series of overseas takeovers by the billionaire, the Financial Times said.

Li has already spent a fortune on other takeovers in recent years. Earlier this week, he agreed to buy the UK's Eversholt Rail Group for over 1 billion pounds.

Growing business empire

Bloomberg News added Hutchison was close to a deal to buy the phone operator from Spanish company Telefonica for more than 10 billion pounds ($15 billion, 13.2 euros).

Hutchison already owns the UK's Three mobile phone network and the purchase of O2 would create a new domestic market leader. Trading in Hong-Kong listed shares was temporarily suspended Friday morning, seen by analysts as a signal of an impending deal.

But Hutchison noted in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that negotiations with Telefonica may take several weeks and may or may not lead to a transaction.

The reported deal echoes Hutchison's purchase of O2's Irish operations from Telefonica in 2013. The company is in the process of rebranding the network as Three.

If the sale goes ahead, it will mark the latest in a series of telecoms consolidation moves in Britain that would reduce the number of mobile providers from five in 2010 to three.

O2's former owner, domestic giant BT, is planning to return to the mobile market through the purchase of EE, itself produced through a merger five years ago of the British operations of Germany's T-Mobile and France's Orange.

hg/sgb (dpa, Reuters)