China Unicom plans big debt offer
By Allen Wan, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 1:48 AM ET April 4, 2003
marketwatch.com
SHANGHAI (CBS.MW) - China Unicom Telecommunication is planning a massive 10 billion yuan bond issue ($1.2 billion) that would mark the biggest corporate debt offer ever in that country.
"This is just a target, just a plan," said a spokesman for the company. "We're still getting approval from the relevant authorities and it's not final yet," she said.
The country's second-largest cell-phone operator (CHU: news, chart, profile) is planning to use the money to fund the construction of a wireless network it is building across China.
The planned issue would top China Mobile's (HK:0941: news, chart, profile) (CHL: news, chart, profile) (HK:0762: news, chart, profile) 8 billion yuan offer in January and could reportedly come as early as the second half of the year.
With Chinese equity markets undergoing a 20-month-long downturn, companies are turning to the debt markets to fund their expansion with the support of authorities.
Shares of China Unicom rose 3.5 percent to HK$4.40.
Last month, China Unicom launched its nationwide network using CDMA2000 technology.
CDMA was developed by Qualcomm (QCOM: news, chart, profile). Cell phone operators like China Unicom, China Mobile and Japan's DoCoMo (DCM: news, chart, profile) pay fees to use the technology for wireless services.
Allen Wan is the Asia bureau chief for CBS MarketWatch, based in Tokyo. |
