Fiber Optek Eyeing Global

Fiber Optek Interconnect Corp., a closely held telecommunications company with $8 million in annual sales, said it may bid for Global Crossing Ltd., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Jan. 28.

Michael Pascazi, president of the Wappingers Falls, N.Y., company, wouldn’t say how his firm would raise the more than $750million it probably would need.

Global Crossing, which is talking to about 40 parties about potential bids for its fiber-optic network assets, declined to comment.

Fiber Optek is in discussions with “a leading institutional lender” about potential financing for a deal, the company said in a statement. Pascazi said he and Fiber Optek owned Global Crossing stock, though he wouldn’t disclose how many shares.

“They are up against some pretty well-known private equity players with track records, so I’d say they have an outside chance at best,” said Richard Barnett, director of equities at City National Bank, which doesn’t own Global Crossing shares.

Global Crossing already has agreed to sell a 79% stake to Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Singapore Technologies Telemedia for $750 million. Creditors, which are owed $12.4 billion, have said the price is too low. Platinum Equity and Gores Technology Group, two Los Angeles technology turnaround firms, and San Francisco-based Texas Pacific Group also are considering bids.

IDT Corp., a U.S. long-distance telephone and Internet service provider, said in January it was interested in buying the U.S. assets Global Crossing acquired in 1999 from Frontier Corp.

Fiber Optek, in business since 1984, develops and installs telecommunications networks. The company has 20 employees.

Creditors must weigh any new bid, and a Bankruptcy Court in New York would have to approve a sale. Hutchison will decide whether to add to its bid after the April 23 deadline for bids proposed by Global Crossing.