Hutchison may sell stake in its Israel unit

Bloomberg

"Various interested parties" have approached Hutchison Telecom about its holding in Partner Communications, according to the statement. The Hong Kong-based company’s 51 percent stake in Israel’s second-biggest mobile-phone carrier is worth about $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Eyeing Southeast Asia

Li, 81, may exit a market where wireless subscriptions exceed the population in favor of expanding investments in faster-growing Southeast Asia countries. Hutchison Telecom, which booked an $8.9 billion gain in 2007 from selling control of its India unit, started a mobile-phone service in Vietnam in April.

"Li Ka-shing will sell anything, anytime, if the price is right," said Allan Ng, an analyst at BOC International Holdings in Hong Kong. A Partner stake sale would help finance the company’s investment in other regions, Ng said.

Israel had a mobile-phone penetration rate, which measures the number of subscriptions versus a nation’s population, of 128.3 percent at the end of 2007, compared with Vietnam’s 27.2 percent, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union.

There is no assurance a sale may result from the approaches, Hutchison Telecom said in the statement. The phone company, with operations in five countries in Asia and the Middle East, set up Partner in 1997, according to the Hutchison Telecom prospectus.

The Partner stake may draw interest from Internet network providers such as businessman Shaul Elovitch, as they seek to diversify into other telecommunication services, Eran Jacoby, who rates Partner shares "outperform" at Leader & Co. in Tel Aviv, said by phone Tuesday.

In 2007, Vodafone Group paid Hutchison Telecom $10.7 billion to buy a 67 percent stake of Hutchison Essar, India’s third-biggest wireless carrier. The unit was then re-named Vodafone Essar. In May, Hutchison Telecom spun off divisions in Hong Kong and Macau to form Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings.