China Satcom stakes in Guomai
13/1/2004 15:14
China Satellite Communications Corp. has earmarked nearly 680 million
yuan (US$82 million) to take the majority 58.88 percent shares in China's
largest paging company Unicom Guomai Communications Co Ltd, eyeing for the huge
potential of the latter's digital wireless trunking system in China, today's
Shanghai Securities News.
Guomai announced the stake plan in a statement over
last weekends, which prompted the company's shares to rise by a 10-percent
capping yesterday. The shares are purchased from Guomai's previous major
shareholders, according to the statement.
"The share purchase deal is to meet
the demand of our company's further development," said a China Satcom official,
who is in charge of the deal. He was not personalized in the report. His company
has become Guomai's largest shareholder after the stake-in.
He said his
company aims to use Guomai's digital wireless trunking system to consolidate its
business via the deal and enter Shanghai's trunking telecom market.
China
Satcom is building test networks for trunking system in three Chinese cities of
Jinan, Tianjin and Nanjing. Its next goal is to obtain a national license for
the system from the Ministry of Information Industry.
Staking in Guomai will
offer the company an access to Shanghai market, because Guomai has already
obtained the local license as confirmed by the latter's board office
workers.
On the other hand, the stake purchase deal will help China Satcom to
raise money from the capital market via Guomai, an A-share floater, according to
the China Satcom official cited by Shanghai Securities News.
One of China's
six telecom operators, the company enjoys a much lower profile on the capital
market. Its rivals including China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile have
offered shares on home or overseas markets.
Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news
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