China Unicom, new shareholders see stocks rally

Shares of China Unicom and many of its new private-sector shareholders rallied Monday after the state-owned wireless carrier secured the final regulatory nod it needed to go ahead with its $11.1 billion share-sale plan. Unicom Group is China’s latest experiment of leveraging private capital to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the sprawling state sector. The plan comes about a year after Beijing first named the company as one of a handful of large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that would take part in the pilot program. On Wednesday, China Unicom abruptly withdrew its initial regulatory filings hours after announcing the plan, citing “technical reasons.” Sources later told Caixin the plan, in which new investors included big names such as China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., would involve the issue of too many new shares and at a lower price than permissible under current securities rules.