HONG KONG, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and state-owned telecommunications company China Unicom (600050.SS) have received regulatory approval to set up a joint-venture company, a public document showed on Wednesday.
The State Administration for Market Regulation approved the application, based on a list it published on its website.
The regulator first disclosed details of the as yet unnamed company in September, when it published a document describing it as an entity focused three areas: internet data centres, content delivery networks and edge computing, which is the use of augmented reality and machine learning to analyse bulk data.
The documents did not say why the companies had decided to set up the venture.
Unicom Innovation Venture Capital, a subsidary of China Unicom, will control 48% of the new company while the Shenzhen Tencent Industry Venture Capital, a subsidary of Tencent, will control 42%, based on the document published in September. The additional 10% will go to the company’s employees, this document said.
China Unicom shares surged 10% in Shanghai late on Wednesday, prompting a temporary trading suspension. Trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares (0762.HK) had ended before the news emerged as the stock market there closed early due to a typhoon.
Tencent’s shares rose 1.4% in Hong Kong in afternoon trading.
Chinese media has earlier described the venture as a “mixed ownership reform” company.
Tencent and China Unicom declined to provide immediate comment.
Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Jane Merriman
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