Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica will sell a 4.56% stake in China Unicom back to the Chinese mobile operator for HK$10.96bn (US$1.4bn), according to a notice with the Spanish Securities Market.
China Unicom has agreed to buy over 1 billion shares at…
Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica will sell a 4.56% stake in China Unicom back to the Chinese mobile operator for HK$10.96bn (US$1.4bn), according to a notice with the Spanish Securities Market.
China Unicom has agreed to buy over 1 billion shares at HK$10.21 (US$1.3) each. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by 31 July 2012.
Following the share sale, Telefonica will be left with a 5.01% stake in China Unicom. “This transaction will allow Telefonica to increase its financial flexibility,” the heavily-indebted Spanish company stated.
It added: “While the transaction reflects Telefonica board of directors’ decision to proactively manage its asset portfolio, both Telefonica and China Unicom continue to be fully committed to their strategic alliance with a fruitful strategic cooperation between the two parties on different areas.”
Telefonica also said that Cesar Alierta, chairman of Telefonica, will continue to be a board director of China Unicom, while Chang Xiaobing, chairman of Unicom, will remain on the board of Telefonica.
In recent months, the Spanish operator has been selling off some assets in order to reduce its mounting debt load. These include some tower assets in Latin America.
The company is also looking to sell its call centre unit Atento Inversiones & Teleservicios for about €1bn (US$1.2bn) and recently announced it was preparing to list its German unit, O2 Germany.
