According to a term sheet seen by Reuters today, Telefónica – which holds 1.19 billion China Unicom shares – is offering to sell 597.8 million shares in the Chinese firm for HK$11.14 to HK$11.34 each.
Telefónica sold half of its stake in China Unicom for $1.4 billion in 2012 as part of a debt reduction strategy, and it seems the Spanish operator is again looking to cut costs. Telefónica’s debt rose by €1 billion in Q2 this year.
However, the term sheet stated that Telefónica is barred from selling any more shares for the next 90 days.
In January, Telefónica announced it was in talks to refinance €5 billion worth of debt to prepare for potential acquisitions this year.