China Unicom, China's second biggest telecommunications company, may sell a stake in itself to a strategic investor, according to Telecom Financing Week, an industry newsletter. This follows the lead of rival China Mobile, which earlier this month sold a 2% stake to UK-based Vodafone.
Unicom, which has a market capitalization of $25 billion, raised $4.9 billion in an initial sale of its shares in New York and Hong Kong in June. It plans to spend $4.8 billion this year to build out its network and a total of $12 billion by 2002.
Ever since Hutchison Whampoa, the conglomerate run by local tycoon Li Ka-shing took a 1.6% stake...