Telefonica SA agreed to increase its stake in China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. to about 9.7 percent, while the Chinese company will increase its holding in the Spanish operator to 1.37 percent.
Each company will buy $500 million of shares in the other, with China Unicom buying treasury shares from Telefonica at 17.16 euros ($23) each, according to an e-mailed statement today. Telefonica will buy the China Unicom shares from third parties over the next nine months, it said.
Telefonica will also propose that China Unicom name a representative to the Spanish phone company’s board.