What’s new: China Mobile Ltd. won approval to sell shares on the Shanghai bourse, becoming the third state-controlled mobile phone giant to be cleared for listing on China’s A-shares market after being kicked off U.S. exchanges.
China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless telecom operator based on number of subscribers, aims to raise 56 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) from the Shanghai secondary listing, topping rival China Telecom Corp. Ltd.’s 54.4 billion yuan fundraising in August.
Two share sales of more than 50 billion yuan in the telecom sector will put pressure on the market, an institutional investor told Caixin. China Telecom’s A-shares declined more than 30% from their debut and are trading below the offering price.
The background: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were expelled from the New York Stock Exchange in May after former U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring American funds and investors from owning stock in companies believed by the government to have ties to the Chinese military.
All three state-owned carriers are also listed in Hong Kong. China Unicom listed its shares on Shanghai’s main bourse in 2002.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (hello@caixin.com)
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