China Mobile gets green light to list in Shanghai after being kicked out of New York
China Mobile said late Monday in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it also trades, that it had received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to proceed with the sale of its shares. part.
It is not yet clear how much money China Mobile will raise. In the filing, they said they needed to conduct a “preliminary price consultation” this week.
But the total — which the company wants to use to help it boost its 5G capabilities, among other things — could run into the billions of dollars.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it plans to issue 845.7 million shares. Based on the stock’s closing price in Hong Kong on Monday, that would take the gain to 39.16 billion yuan ($5 billion).
In August, China Mobile submitted a preliminary prospectus outlining its intention to raise 560 billion yuan ($8.8 billion) for 5G, cloud infrastructure and smart home projects.
China Telecom, the country’s second-largest telecommunications company, also does business in Hong Kong and listed in Shanghai in August. Its $7.3 billion raise is one of the largest in the world this year. Rival China Unicom has been trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
China Mobile’s chairman Yang Jie said in August that listing in mainland China would “effectively accelerate the company’s development” and let its customers “share the benefits of growth and corporate development.”
“Because our client market is basically in China, if we go back, the capital market and the client market will be completely matched,” he said on an earnings call at the time. that point.
China Mobile plays a vital role in China’s high-tech ambitions to win the global race for 5G. The country wants to triple the number of 5G base stations it has by 2025 – an increase that will cover more than half of the population.
In its prospectus, the company said it will use about half of the money it wants to raise in Shanghai for 5G plans. The goal is to build at least 500,000 5G base stations by 2022.
According to data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in September, Chinese telecommunications companies have built more than 1 million 5G base stations around the country.
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