Hutchison Whampoa decided over the weekend to defer the spin-off of its Italian 3G business, 3 Italia, despite approvals from Italian regulators. Instead, it is selling 10 percent of the unit to Goldman Sachs for roughly $500 million through a private placement. It's simply a bad time for European telecom stocks as a host of major operators across Europe issue profit warnings. Even though 3 Italia is garnering high-margin customers, Hutchison fears it will be lumped in with all of the other poor performers. Still, Hutchison appears anxious to list 3 Italia so that it can obtain a benchmark for its entire 3G business.
To read more about Hutchison's IPO reversal:
- see this article from Dow Jones