Securities and Exchange Commission to sell a minority stake in the company though a $300 million initial public offering.

The money raised will be used to finance the building of the company's undersea fibre-optic cable network. According to Bloomberg news the figure was provided only to calculate the SEC's filing fee and includes room for exta shares if the offering is oversubscribed.

Global Crossing announced this week it had started transmitting over its US to UK connection. The company will begin transmitting to the rest of Europe shortly.

The connection is the one segment of four that will include Bermuda as a telecommunications hub in the company's global network. The Atlantic Crossing (AC-1) segment of the network will eventually double the total capacity now in service across the Atlantic Ocean from the US to Europe, Global Crossing stated in a press release. Full city-to-city connectivity will eventually be provided linking major European cities to US cities.

The other segments of the network are Pacific Crossing connecting the US and Japan, the Mid-Atlantic Crossing conneting the eastern US, Bermuda, and the Caribbean, and the Pan-American Crossing, connecting the western US, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The Mid-Atlantic crossing is scheduled to being service in late 1999.

Global Crossing has offices in Bermuda, Los Angeles, Morristown, New Jersey San Franscisco, and London. In the last month Global Crossing has advertised in local newspapers for six staff, including a director of contract administration, a director of sales support, a manager of information technology, a creative director and a corporate administrator to manage its Bermuda companies.

The company has $400 million worth of agreements to buy capacity on its US to Europe cable, but as a development-stage company which started in March last year it has racked up $27.4 million in losses so far.

An affiliate of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce holds 36 percent of the company.

The company has already rasied $800 million in financing for its US to Japan cable. Global Crossing plans on listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market.