Court of appeal stays decision on PCCW privatization

HONG KONG, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Court of Appeal on
Monday agreed to consider on April 16 whether to overturn a lower court ruling
allowing the privatization of Hong Kong's fixed line telecom operator PCCW to go
ahead or not.

The new twist came just hours after a court of first
instance judge ruled on the same day that the deal should proceed, rejecting
allegations made by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) that some share
transfers were illegal.

The deal worth 15.9 billion HK dollars (2.02 billion
US dollars) has been overshadowed by allegations of impropriety and claims of
vote-rigging at a shareholders' meeting in February that secured the go-ahead
for the proposal.

The SFC, which exercised its statutory power to
intervene in proceedings for the first time ever in February, said it is
concerned that important points of law regarding the splitting of shares have
not been fully clarified.

"There are important points of principle for the Hong
Kong market and the protection of minority shareholders," said Martin Wheatley,
chief executive officer of SFC.

The appeal is expected to make it challenging for the
privatization deal to be completed before the deadline of April 23even if the
court of appeal rules in favor of majority shareholder Pacific Century
Developments Ltd., which was led by billionaire Richard Li.

The Pacific Century Developments Ltd. said on Monday
it did not intend to postpone the deadline for the deal at present.