The identities of more than 50 companies that confidentially expressed interest in acquiring bankrupt fibre optic network company Global Crossing were inadvertently revealed due to an e-mail addressing error by a lawyer acting for the company.

A lawyer with New York firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges was sending information to all potential buyers on how to bid for the company. However, the “To” field of the e-mail appears to have listed the e-mail addresses of all intended recipients. The lawyer should instead have listed all recipients in the “Bcc” (Blind Carbon Copy) field of the e-mail message which avoids one recipient identifying any other recipient. The e-mail was leaked last week to the New York Times.

The bankruptcy of Global Crossing is one of the largest in US history. The company has listed assets valued at $22 billion and debts of more than $12 billion. Among its potential suitors, according to the New York Times, are Verizon, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Credit Suisse First Boston, the Carlyle Group and Bertelsmann.

The companies listed in the e-mail had previously signed confidentiality agreements with Global Crossing’s financial adviser to keep their interest in the company secret.

Weil Gotshal, one of the world’s largest law firms, declined to comment to the New York Times on its error. According to the newspaper, the firm billed the company the sum of $1.5 million in fees and expenses in its first month of work on the bankruptcy.

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