China Telecom aims for $8.5 billion in Shanghai’s IPO

Amidst Washington’s deadlock with Beijing, China Telecom may potentially elevate its Shanghai’s initial public offering (IPO) to more than $8 billion leading to its biggest offering this year in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, following the firm’s delisting in its New York counterpart (NYSE) in January. 

Following Chinese media reports, the Beijing-based firm established its IPO at $0.70 per share, inflating the firm’s worth to $7.3 billion. The provider also announced that it had already set into motion its vision to convert online subscribers to the Shanghai Stock Market. 

Earlier in January, as former President Donald Trump inked an executive order aimed at Chinese businesses, the NYSE delisted some of China’s most prominent state-owned telecom firms such as China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom. 

Amongst various moves against the Chinese market, Trump’s order banned American investments suspected of granting and supporting China’s military and cybersecurity equipment. 

On the Chinese front, China Telecom’s IPO is expected to alleviate and raise the firm’s vision in financing a 5G industrial Internet project, cloud business expansion, and other innovations. 

As China’s main fixed-line operator, the firm’s increasing share price will most likely overcome short video platform Kuaishou Technology’s Hong Kong IPO of $6.3 billion. This will result in the fifth-largest IPO in the history of the A-share market, underlining a profound domestic capital for the telecom operator. 

Preceding its delisting in January, Chinese authorities had been working on their agenda to promote and strengthen state-owned firm’s enlisting in both Shanghai’s and Shenzhen’s domestic exchange markets. 

This is the Chinese authorities’ newest endeavor to expand its control over its Big Tech firms to give China’s state-owned firms the upper hand in the country’s stock exchange market. 

In addition to China Telecom, China Mobile Ltd. announced in May its strategy of finding new avenues to supply its 5G network development. However, it is worth mentioning that the telecom company has not announced the volume or the timeline of the listing. 

To further highlight, both state-owned firms China Mobile and China Unicom witness a plunge in their Hong Kong Stock Exchange market.  

As of time of writing, China Mobile’s shares currently stand at $0.15 per share, with a 0.30 percent decline in value, while China Unicom’s shares stand at $0.03 per share, with a 0.70 percent decline in value.