Chinese telco giant makes ‘biggest public offering in a decade’

Shares in China Mobile have seen green, rising as the telco started trading in Shanghai following a major capital raise of $7.7bn in China’s biggest public offering in a decade

The shares in the telco giant opened 9.4% higher before easing back in morning trade. China Mobile’s smaller rivals, China Telecom and China Unicom, have already made the move to their home country, after exiting the US markets.

The three telecom firms were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after a Trump-era decision to restrict investment in Chinese technology companies.

China Mobile’s Hong Kong-listed shares saw green after they also rose in early trade. The positive news came after the company stated that it would press ahead with a plan to buy back up to 2.05 billion shares, worth nearly $13bn.

The policy introduced by the Trump administration to clamp down on investments in Chinese technology firms has remained in place under current President Joe Biden as tensions continue to escalate between Washington and Beijing.

China Mobile says that it plans to use the cash raised from the offering to develop projects including premium 5G networks, infrastructure for cloud resources and artificial intelligence software.

China Mobile is the world’s largest mobile network operator by total subscribers