The Sunday papers with one voice seemed certain that the eventuality we mentioned last week, that Cable & Wireless Plc would sell a stake in Mercury Communications Plc in the form of new shares to give it an injection of capital, is being actively considered by the company, and Cable’s shares were rising again yesterday as the gossip swirled round the market – but the tie-up is not exactly an obvious one: with AT&T’s dominance of the US market, it’s hard to see what it can offer to Cable & Wireless’s operations there without bringing anti-trust charges down on its head; Cable & Wireless’s partner on the transatlantic fibre optic cable is US Sprint Communications Co, one of AT&T’s only two serious long-distance competitors, and in the case of both the transatlantic and transpacific cables in which Cable & Wireless is an investor compete directly with cables in which AT&T is the biggest or a major investor; Cable & Wireless was not saying anything yesterday; the alternate possibility canvassed is that Cable & Wireless will float a minority of Mercury on the London International Stock Exchange to focus on the value locked up in the company that is not reflected in its share price, although if the share price continues to motor – it was up another 12 pence to 587p yesterday – it soon will be without any further action.
