Telefonica will buy USD 500 million worth of shares in China Unicom. The shares are priced at HKD 0.10 each and will be bought from third parties. Meanwhile, China Unicom will buy 21.83 million shares in Telefonica at EUR 1 each from Telefonica. The aggregate purchase price is EUR 374.56 million. China Unicom's share in Telefonica will rise to 1.37 percent from the current holding of 0.89 percent while Telefonica is looking at buying a 8.37 percent share in Unicom. The move aims to strengthen the strategic alliance between the companies which began in September 2009. The companies have agreed to deepen their cooperation in procurement, mobile service platforms, service to multi-national customers, wholesale carriers, roaming, technology/research and development, international business development, and the sharing of best practices.
