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SK, China Unicom deny completion of SK’s share conversion |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 18 July 2007 |
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BEIJING, July 18 (InfoChina) - SK Telecom and China Unicom (NYSE: CHU, HK: 0762) both denied a media report on July 17 that SK had completed conversion of its holding of convertible bonds issued by China Unicom into shares of the latter.
China Unicom spokesman said that they were not informed of any relevant information, and an insider of SK Telecom China also disclosed that the result was still in the air.
According to the Strategic Alliance Framework Agreement signed between China Unicom and SK Telecom in June 2006, SK Telecom can convert its holding of one billion U.S. dollars worth of bonds into shares at 8.63 HK dollars per share, which would represent 6.7 percent equity in China Unicom, after one year as of the issue date. At present, 52.6 percent of China Unicom’s share capital is indirectly held by China Unicom Group through China Unicom BVI Limited and China United Communications Corporation Limited, 24.09 percent held indirectly by the public A-share holders, and the remaining 23.31 percent by public shareholders in Hong Kong and New York stock markets. So if SK exercises the option, it will become a critical foreign investor of China Unicom. Wall Street Journal reported in June that the management of SK Telecom intended to exercise the option as soon as possible, but no news came out on July 5, the date for conversion execution, so some market observers guessed that the conversion had been completed. (Edited by Zhu zhu) |
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