China Mobile buys back $12.6bn HK shares after Shanghai listing

Due to rules imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency, China Mobile was added to an investment blocklist and kicked off the New York Stock Exchange. Just eight months later, the communications tech giant accomplished mainland China’s biggest listing in 10 years, raising USD$9bn (£6.6bn) in a blockbuster Shanghai listing on Wednesday. Shares closed slightly above their Shanghai offering price of CN¥57.58 (£6.69), which was more than 40% greater than the price of their existing Hong Kong-listed stakes – which rose 3.3% on Wednesday. Prior to their mega listing, China Mobile announced that they will buy back up to USD$12.6bn (£9.3bn) worth of their existing Hong Kong-listed shares on the market. They will use their recent stock sale to expand their 5G network.

China Mobile joins a list of companies who have thrived closer to home after being barred from the US stock market, including Hong Kong-based SenseTime. Although the AI platform had to postpone their IPO after fears that they had developed facial recognition to determine a users’ ethnicity, SenseTime’s stock was up 152% since they priced their IPO at HK$3.85 (£0.36) in December. They have since announced that they “strongly oppose” the allegations and “regret to have been caught in the middle of geopolitical tension.” Exchange Wire