Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa looks likely to take its loss-making, emerging markets-focused subsidiary, Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), private. A number of major news agencies claim that Whampoa may make an offer to buy the operator’s shares from minority investors, strengthening billionaire Li Ka-shing’s control of the unit. HTIL was spun off from Whampoa six years ago. Whampoa currently owns 60.4 percent of HTIL. Business Week notes that HTIL’s shares were suspended from afternoon trading yesterday, after rising 2.5 percent to HK$1.65, valuing the unit at HK$7.94 billion (US$1 billion).

A takeover would help Li gain increased access to the US$1.4 billion that HTIL raised from the sale of a controlling stake in Israel’s second-largest mobile operator (Partner) last year. It would also give Hutchison Whampoa more ownership of the unit’s businesses in faster-growing emerging markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. However, this portfolio has been reduced significantly since 2004, when HTIL operated in eight markets.