Cable & Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW.L) put out the fire on rumors that it is going to sell its international assets.
Pacnet, an Asian-based submarine cable operator, made an informal $500 million bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide's international operations, which provides both IP services to enterprises and wholesale carrier services, this Monday.
"The board of Cable & Wireless Worldwide Plc notes the recent press speculation in relation to an approach for its global business," Cable & Wireless said in a statement. "The board has considered and rejected that approach."
Rumors have been rampant that C&W Worldwide would sell its international assets because it has struggled to make a profit due to increased competition and British government cuts for telecom services since becoming an independent company last year.
Pacnet is not the only service provider to express interest in C&W Worldwide. Previous reports revealed that both AT&T and Singtel were interested in purchasing the assets. Other possible bidders rumored to be interested in the assets are Tata Communications.
One of the reasons that C&W Worldwide may be interested in selling off the international assets is so it can put more focus on expanding its suite of business products, including cloud services, it provides to UK-based businesses. As part of its proposed cloud services drive, C&W Worldwide has made an informal bid for UK-based cloud provider 2e2.
For more:
- Reuters has this article
- here's Financial Times' article about the Pacnet bid (sub. req.)
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