PCCW opened the morning session higher and remained in positive territory until just before the lunch break, when it was unchanged from the Wednesday close. The stock had ended at $4.70 on Wednesday and the share was suspended on Thursday for the announcement.
China Netcom will pay $7.9 billion for a 20 per cent stake in PCCW, marking the biggest investment since 1997 by a mainland company in a Hong Kong firm.
The deal paves the way for PCCW to invest in mainland telecoms ventures with the mainland's second-largest fixed-line carrier, although no firm plan has been reached apart from the promise to investigate future deals.
'The significance of this deal is that it sets a precedent. We're the first company with significant telecom business anywhere in the world to have a Chinese incumbent carrier taking a 20 per cent stake,' said Alex Arena, PCCW group chief financial officer.
Neither China Netcom executives nor PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai appeared at Thursday's announcement, but Mr Li later told the South China Morning Post: 'This is not the end game, it is the beginning of the game.'