Telefonica to invest 800 million EUR to maintain its holding in China Unicom

Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) is set to invest around 800 million EUR (about $1.16 billion) to maintain its holding in China Unicom, after the company has been merged with China Netcom. After the merger and with additional money invested, Spanish telecom giant will end up with 5.5% share of the company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Telefonica will increase its stake in China Netcom from 5% to 9.91% for 368 million EUR. Then, after the merger is completed, Telefonica will increase its holding again to bring it up to the 5.5% stake.

For the record, Telefonica first acquired a stake in China Netcom in 2005 when it bought 2.99% of the company and increased this to 5% later. Last year, they said they’ll buy a further 2.2% of the company…

[Via: CellularNews]