Global Crossing won a bankruptcy court's approval to sell itself for $250 million to the same two Asian companies that tried to buy the fiber-optic company for three times as much when it first filed for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy judge overseeing the case in New York approved the agreement with Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. and Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd.

An outside financial adviser to Global Crossing who was called to testify at a hastily scheduled hearing early Friday said only three credible bids were received during a lengthy auction process and that bidders were spooked by the ongoing collapse of the business.

"It's a very difficult world today in the telecommunications industry," said Blackstone Group's Arthur Newman, the senior managing director in charge of Global Crossing's restructuring.

The Asian companies agreed to invest $250 million in cash in Global Crossing's business. In addition, Global Crossing will pay $300 million in cash and issue $200 million in notes to its assorted lenders and creditors.

The investors will hold a controlling 61.5% stake in the new Global Crossing that emerges from bankruptcy, possibly early next year. Under the earlier deal that was rejected, the investors would have walked away with a 79% stake.

An additional 6% of the company will go to lenders and 32.5% will go to unsecured creditors. Owners of Global Crossing stock will receive nothing.

Global Crossing piled up $12.4 billion in debts building a vast world-wide communications network at the height of the Internet boom. That state-of-the-art network spans 100,000 miles, connecting more than 200 cities in 27 countries around the world. The Bermuda-based firm had hoped to dominate the market for high-speed data communications, and at one point, enthusiastic investors boosted the company's value to nearly $50 billion.

While few networks compare in size, the building frenzy of the past few years left a glut of capacity that forced down prices for bandwidth. At the same time, the collapse of the Web economy eliminated a driving force for the explosion of online traffic that Global Crossing and its rivals were counting on to jam their networks.

Still, even in the current environment, the flow of Web usage and electronic commerce continues to grow at a steady clip. That explains why certain players seem willing to buy Global Crossing's assets for what amounts to a steep discount from their original cost, but a hefty price tag nonetheless.

Hutchison Telecommunications is a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., and Singapore Technologies Telemedia is a unit of Singapore Technologies.

Updated August 9, 2002 1:35 p.m. EDT