HONG KONG - THE two biggest shareholders of Hong Kong telecoms giant PCCW made a surprise move on Tuesday to raise the price of their buyout offer shortly before minority shareholders were to vote on the bid.

Mr David Ford, chairman of the extraordinary general meeting of PCCW, told minority shareholders they were only notified about the revised offer from the company's chairman Richard Li, son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, and his Chinese state-owned partner China Netcom on Tuesday morning.

'The company has just received this morning a letter from the joint offerers proposing the cancellation price increase from 4.20 Hong Kong dollars per share to 4.50 Hong Kong dollars per share,' he said at the beginning of the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned after a vast majority of the shareholders present agreed they needed more time to consider the revised offer.

It was made after shareholder advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co. advised independent shareholders to reject the original offer citing a low price and a lack of 'compelling strategic rationale for the deal' in mid-December.

But some shareholders remained dissatisfied and said Tuesday they would object to the privatisation proposal. The bid will require the support of 75 per cent of minority shareholders to pass.

Trading of the stock was suspended Tuesday morning because of the meeting.

Mr Li is the biggest shareholder of the fixed-line telephone operator, owning 28.3 per cent of its shares, partly through his Singapore holding company Pacific Century Regional Developments. China Netcom owns 19.8 per cent of the shares.

PCCW said in October it wanted to take the company private because the shares had not performed 'satisfactorily'. -- AFP