HONG KONG: China Unicom’s two main units said on Thursday their shares would remain suspended until further notice, one day after the group announced it was raising US$11.7 billion from investors including Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.
No reason was given for the continued suspension, which runs counter to expectations that trade would resume soon after details of the fund raising were released. One of the named investors said on Thursday it did not participate.
Adding to market confusion, the deal announcement by the Shanghai-listed unit was taken down from the Shanghai bourse website although it remained on the Hong Kong bourse’s website as well as the website of the Hong Kong unit.
Representatives at China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China United Network Communications, the Shanghai-listed unit, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The Shanghai bourse also did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
One of the 14 investors which were named by China Unicom’s Hong Kong unit, rail equipment maker CRRC Corp Ltd, denied making an investment through the purchase of shares in the Shanghai-listed unit.
“According to verification results, the company did not participate in the afore-said subscription,” it said in a notice to the stock exchange, referring to media reports about it being one of the investors.
CRRC officials in Hong Kong did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Nomura telecoms analyst Joel Ying said he was ”a little surprised” about the taking down of the deal announcement by the Shanghai unit, but declined to speculate on the reasons.
The China Unicom fund raising is part of Beijing’s push for state-owned enterprises to be revitalised with private capital.
China Unicom is among the first batch of state-owned enterprises slated for mixed-ownership reforms.
The funds would be raised by the group’s Shanghai unit via sale of new as well as existing shares, and investors will get a combined 35.2% stake in that company and will be allotted three board seats.
The deal represents the largest capital raising by a company in the Asia-Pacific region since insurer AIA Group’s 2010 market debut, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Brokerage Jefferies said in a note the diversified nature and representation of private investors was unprecedented for a Chinese state-owned enterprise, signifying the degree of support Unicom receives from the government. - Reuters
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