Hutchison Whampoa is to reduce the huge debt it picked up buying 3G licenses by selling off
telecoms companies from eight countries on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The deal includes assets in Hong Kong, and in India, Thailand, Israel, Macau, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Paraguay, according to the Financial Times. Together these countries have 8.5m customers.

The new unit is called Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. Goldman Sachs is advising the company on the sell-off. ®