Global Crossing bidders pull out

$750m would have been better than nothing...

Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies Telemedia have pulled out of their talks to buy bankrupt telco Global Crossing. The pair had made a $750m joint bid for a 79 per cent stake in the company, but their offer was rejected as too low. An extended deadline for resubmitting a changed bid was then passed as their interest in continuing with the bidding process faded. The assets of Global Crossing are to be auctioned off on 8 July, but the creditors had hoped to have one solid bid in place prior to this date to act as a benchmark, according to the Financial Times. Without a suitable benchmark the auction process is fraught with risk as the creditors would ideally have like the security of a definite offer to fall back on.