Investment fund Apollo is examining the possibility of buying Hong Kong-based Hutchison's stake in Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR). The fund has been mulling the deal for several months, and negotiations have apparently now made progress. Hutchison has a 27% stake in Partner. The shares are held by a trustee, because of the difficulty of awarding a control permit to a Chinese company in an Israeli telecommunications company, owing to a US veto.
Hutchison has not been in any hurry to sell the shares up to now, as it waited for Partner's share price to rise.
Hutchison received the shares in Partner when Haim Saban, the previous controlling shareholder in the company, returned his holding to it, following a demand for payment of $300 million in relation to a loan he took from Hutchison to finance the deal in which he purchased Hutchison's stake in Partner.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 5, 2021
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