SingTel mulls CWW bid

In a surprise move, Singapore Telecom is considering making a play for Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW).
 
Investor speculation about a bid from southeast Asia’s largest telco drove up CWW’s London stock price as much as 7.5% overnight.
 
SingTel officials have declined to deny a report that the company has appointed an investment bank to advise its bid for the enterprise communications specialist.
 
CWW’s share price has slumped since it issued a warning last month that the UK government’s austerity measures would hit its bottom line.
 
CWW stock jumped last week on rumor that AT&T would make a run at the company.
 
CWW was formed in March this year when it demerged from Cable & Wireless, leaving the former British Empire phone company with mostly mobile assets in the Caribbean.
 
 
Analyst DBS Vickers said the UK-centric business would not suit Asian-focused SingTel, whose focus is on Asian mobile, Today Online reported
 
However, it could mark a new push for the Singapore telco into the enterprise market, offering a platform for the coming boom in cloud services.
 
Although CWWs stock rose on news of the takeover yesterday, it fell back to 72.80p by the close of trading yesterday, and stood at 70.80 by 11am GMT this morning.
 
SingTel’s share price fell 1 cent to 3.10 at the close of trading on the SGX today.