IPOs
In February 2000 a subsidiary "China Unicom Hong Kong" was incorporated in Hong Kong and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 22, 2000.
The intermediate parent company "China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited" was "China Unicom (BVI) Limited", As of 31 December 2001, the BVI company owned 77.47% shares of China Unicom (H.K.). In turn, China Unicom (H.K.) owned the operating subsidiaries of the group. In 2002, another intermediate parent company "China United Network Communications Limited" was established in Shanghai (headquartered in Beijing), to own 51% stake of "China Unicom (BVI) Limited" as well as listing the shares in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.[13] As of 31 December 2002, state-owned China Unicom Group owned 74.6% shares of the A share company, in turn the A share company owned 73.84% of the BVI company.[14] The BVI company owned 77.47% shares of the red chip company.[15] To sum up, the Chinese Government via A share company, owned 42.67% stake of the operating subsidiaries, as well as additional 20.27% stake by the minority stake in the BVI company.
Merger with China Netcom
On June 2, 2008, China Unicom announced its intention to sell its CDMA business and assets to China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom Group) for a combined total of 110 billion RMB[10] and to merge the remainder of the company,[16] in a share swap valued at US$56.3 billion (based on Unicom's stock last traded price) on June 2, 2008, with China Netcom.[17] The CDMA business was officially moved to China Telecom in early November.
In July 2009, China Unicom signed a $700 million deal with infrastructure vendor Ericsson to upgrade the company's GSM network.
In April 2012, China Unicom was a founding member in the formation of Cloud Computing Industry Alliance in Beijing. Other members of the alliance include Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba.[18][19]
Partnership with Telefonica
In 2009, China Unicom (Hong Kong) agreed to a US$1 billion cross-holding with Spain's Telefónica.[20] In January 2011, the two partners agreed a further US$500 million tie-up in each other, which following completion in late 2011, Telefónica will hold a 9.7% shares in China Unicom (H.K.), while the red chip company will own 1.4% shares of the Spanish firm.[21] The companies also agreed to deepen their cooperation in areas such as procurement, mobile service platforms, service to MNC's wholesale carriers, roaming, technology, among others, where both companies have been cooperating since the signature of their strategic alliance agreement.[22][23]
In June 2012, China United Network Communications Group (China Unicom Group), the ultimate parent company of Hong Kong listed company "China Unicom (Hong Kong)", had agreed to buy back about 1.1 billion shares (approx. 4.6% of the share capital) of the red chip company from Telefónica for an approx. HK$11 billion. (HK$10.21 per share; by narrow band floating exchange rate approx. US$1.4 billion), via an unlisted subsidiary "China Unicom Group Corporation (BVI) Limited".
In 2017 China Unicom became one of the pilot projects of the mixed-ownership reform of the Chinese state-owned enterprise, which saw a decrease in the Government's ownership.[28]
In 2017 the Class A listed company of the group introduced ten strategic investors: state-controlled China Structural Reform Fund, state-controlled listed company China Life Insurance, a private equity fund that was owned by China Cinda Asset Management and a company related to Tencent, a private equity fund partially owned by Baidu and Industrial Bank, a private equity fund that related to JD.com , a public company Ali Venture Capital , a public company Suning Commerce Group and three minor private equity funds that was subscribed by companies such as Kuang-Chi and CRRC Group.[34]
U.S. sanctions
In October 2019, a group of U.S. senators urged the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to divest U.S. pension money from any investment in China Unicom for providing telecommunications services to disputed artificial islands in the South China Sea.[37] In August 2020, the United States Department of Defense published a list of companies operating directly or indirectly in the United States with ties to the People's Liberation Army. China Unicom was included on the list.[38][39]
In October 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requested the United States Department of Justice report whether China Unicom poses a "national security risk".[40]
In November 2020, the U.S. President issued an executive order
Response to invasion of Ukraine
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, China United Network Communications Group continued its operations in Russia through its subsidiary, China Unicom (Russia) Operations Limited Liability Company, maintaining business as usual despite international sanctions and widespread corporate withdrawals.[52][53] Research from the Yale School of Management placed the company in the "Grade F" category of "Digging In," indicating that it has defied demands for exit or reduction of activities in Russia.[53]
