difficult yesterday for Asia Global Crossing Ltd., a broadband network services company based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

The firm's IPO now has price estimates that have been lowered to between $9 and $11 a share, from $14 to $16 a share.

The price cut, confirmed by Goldman Sachs & Co., one of the lead underwriters, now values Asia Global Crossing at roughly $5.49 billion, based on the 548.8 million shares expected to be outstanding after the offering. Before the cut, the value was estimated at $8.32 billion.

Asia Global Crossing, which is hoping to sell 62.2 million shares through both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney, got potential investors' attention largely because of its name and backers.

The company, which is trying to build a communications network in Asia, was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture of Bermuda's Global Crossing Ltd.

-- a provider of voice, data and Internet services -- Microsoft Corp. and Japan's Softbank Corp.

It already has a Pacific undersea cable in place, a network and data center in Japan and a fiber-optic network in Hong Kong. Because it was only recently formed, it has little in the way of an operating history, though it has seen strong revenue in the first half of this year. Revenue stood at $108.7 million, for a $31.5 million net loss, over the first six months of 2000.

It is heavily leveraged, with $1.42 billion in debt as of June 30. It is also borrowing more. Concurrent with the IPO, the company was planning a $400 million debt offering of senior notes due 2010.

This combination of losses and debt had prompted some analysts to question the strength and wisdom of the offering. Some suggested that the offering was driven simply because of Global Crossing cachet with investors.

"The only thing that brought any attention to the deal was Global Crossing,'' said Vincent Slavin, who tracks IPOs for Cantor Fitzgerald Inc. in New York.

"It was the only redeeming quality. It obviously wasn't redeeming enough.''