The Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) has approved a buyout of bankrupt telecommunication company Global Crossing Holdings Ltd. by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd. (STT), Global Crossing said in a statement Friday.
ST Telemedia will pay US$250 million for a 61.5 percent stake in Global Crossing.
The deal sees a telecommunication network, which carries some U.S. military and government traffic, pass into the hands of a company majority-owned by the Singapore government. That relationship, according to local media reports, has caused concern over the deal in some areas of the U.S. government, notably the Department of Defense.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. was to have combined with STT in the buyout, but pulled out, apparently in anticipation that its links to mainland China would prevent the deal being approved.
The deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Both Global Crossing and its former subsidiary Asia Global Crossing Ltd. (AGC) have now passed into Asian hands.
AGC was taken over in March by China Netcom Corp. Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Chinese Ministry of Railways and the Shanghai Municipal Government.