SHANGHAI – Shares in China Telecom surged nearly 20% in its Shanghai debut today after the world’s biggest public offering of the year, coming after the company was delisted in the United States amid China-US tensions.
China’s biggest fixed-line operator had said earlier it could raise more than US$8 billion (RM34 billion) through the listing if an over-allotment option was exercised.
That makes it the biggest this year, topping the US$5.4 billion raised in Hong Kong by TikTok rival Kuaishou Technology in February.
China Telecom’s offer price was set at 4.53 yuan per share and initially sagged below that at the opening today, but quickly rallied to close the morning at 5.39 yuan – a gain of 19%.
China Telecom was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in January along with fellow state-owned telecoms firms China Mobile and China Unicom following an executive order by former US president Donald Trump.
The order banned investments by Americans into a range of companies deemed to be supplying or supporting China’s military and security apparatus.
Many of China’s biggest tech and telecom firms listed their shares on the more developed US stock markets in the 2000s as they sought access to global funding.
But, China’s government has pushed in recent years to instead encourage listings on its domestic exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as in Hong Kong. – AFP, August 20, 2021
