China Unicom Divorces SK Telecom

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (SEHK: 0762 and NYSE: CHU) completed the off-market repurchase of about 899.745 million shares, valued at HKD 9.99 billion, from its South Korean peer SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (SEO: 017670) on November 5, 2009.

SK Telecom has sold all its shares in the Chinese company by far, whose reaming owners' holdings are predicted to rise in the near future after the repurchased shares are written off. In addition, SK Telecom President Man Won Jung has resigned from the position of China Unicom's non-executive director.

The former China Unicom Ltd. offered USD 1 billion worth of convertible bonds to SK Telecom as early as July 2006 with an exercise price of HKD 8.63 per share. In September 2007, the South Korean telecoms operator converted the bonds into 899.75 million shares or a 6.61% stake, which was diluted to less than 4% after China Unicom Ltd. was integrated with the former China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd. into present China Unicom.

Source: www.enet.com.cn (November 06, 2009)

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