ExclusiveChina Tower gets the green light for its US$10 billion Hong Kong IPO, surpassing Xiaomi’s plan
The world’s biggest operator of telecommunications towers for mobile phone networks has received formal approval to raise up to US$10 billion in a Hong Kong stock offer.
Call it the revenge of the old technology. China Tower, the world’s biggest operator of telecommunications towers for mobile phone networks, has received the formal approval to raise up to US$10 billion in a Hong Kong stock offer, surpassing smartphone maker Xiaomi in claiming the 2018 crown for the biggest global initial public offering.
The Beijing-based company, formed in 2014 through merging the transmission operations of China Mobile, China Unicom (Hong Kong) and China Telecom, has received the official green light from the Listing Committee of the Hong Kong stock exchange, clearing the way for a listing by the end of July, according to a source familiar with the plan.
The final amount of capital raised will be subject to market conditions, and will be known after the company’s road show to present its business plan to investors, the source said.
A US$10 billion IPO would place China Tower head and shoulders above Xiaomi as the world’s biggest IPO this year. It would also be the fourth-biggest fundraising in Hong Kong in three decades. Alibaba Group Holdings, the owner of the South China Morning Post, still holds the world record in IPO size with its US$25 billion New York float in 2014.
A successful sale in Hong Kong would put the city ahead in its race to retake the global crown in IPOs from New York, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It also comes after Hong Kong’s securities regulator and stock market operator last year overhauled the city’s listing regulations to attract pre-sales biotechnology research teams, technology start-ups and so-called new economy companies to raise funds.