Telefonica sells half of stake in China Unicom
Madrid (AFP) - Spanish telecom giant Telefonica said Monday it had sold half of its stake in its Chinese counterpart China Unicom for 687 million euros ($854 million).
Telefonica sold 597,844,100 China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. shares, 2.5 percent of that company's capital, at 11.14 Hong Kong dollars per share, the Spanish firm said in a filing with the Madrid stock exchange.
It said the operation was part of its policy of "active management of its portfolio of assets and optimisation of its financial flexibility".
It added, however, that it "...maintains its commitment to a strategic alliance with China Unicom."
The transaction leaves Telefonica with a 2.51 percent stake in China Unicom, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Telefonica also sold a 4.56 percent stake in China Unicom in 2012.
