Confidential Bidders for Global’s Assets Revealed

Some got a chuckle, others appeared perturbed, but few of the potential bidders for the assets of Global Crossing Ltd. are likely to walk away because a lawyer for the telecommunications company inadvertently revealed their names in an e-mail message.

The message, sent March 28 by a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, contained the more than 50 e-mail addresses of those who had signed confidentiality agreements in exchange for a look at Global Crossing’s books. The bidders did not know whom they were competing against in what could become a hotly contested auction.

The message contained public information about the bidding procedures for Global Crossing, a fiber-optic network builder that filed a bankruptcy petition Jan. 28 that made it the nation’s fourth-biggest corporate collapse. Neither the law firm nor Global Crossing would comment.

“It was kind of humorous when it first came out, and we need a little humor with the way the telecommunications industry is,” said one potential bidder, who did not want his name or his company’s name disclosed.

“But it was not appropriate. It’s like giving your home number out.”

The e-mail list contained the names of some companies that have said they may bid for Global Crossing.

Among them are two Los Angeles technology turn-around firms, Platinum Equity and Gores Technology Group, run by brothers Tom and Alec Gores, respectively.

The long list of e-mail addresses included telecom giants such as AT&T; Corp., Verizon Communications, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica of Spain, Telefonos de Mexico and France Telecom that would probably be looking for any strategic fit that some or all of Global’s 100,000 miles of cable could give them.

The list also includes financial investors like the Carlyle Group, Credit Suisse First Boston, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. CIBC, an early major investor that sold its Global holdings, said that any interest it might have in bidding for Global assets would be on behalf of a client.

Most companies contacted would not comment about any interest in Global.

“Generally speaking, I take commitments of confidentiality and nondisclosure extremely seriously,” said e-mail recipient John Buck, principal for TenX Capital Partners in Conshohocken, Pa.

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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.