Deals
Hutchison’s Li to Face Off With Brussels Over U.K. Phone Bid
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Li Ka-shing is no stranger to sparring with Europe’s regulators and as he prepares to merge two of Britain’s biggest mobile operators, he may have to make significant concessions.
When Spain’s Telefonica SA combined its German unit with E-Plus last year, it offered to sell as much as 30 percent of its network capacity to get a deal past Brussels. Some lawyers and analysts say Li’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. could need something similar to win approval for merging its British unit Three with Telefonica’s O2.