China Mobile Communications has entered into a strategic alliance with Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) for a 12 per cent stake in the latter for $529 million.
FET will issue 444.341 million new shares specifically for private placement by China Mobile at a 13.64 per cent premium based on the closing share price on April 29. The companies plan to cooperate closely in a number of areas, including procurement, roaming services, data and value-added services, and network and technology advancement. The deal is the first direct investment in the island by a mainland-based company in over 60 years, and comes a day after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce lifted the ban on investments in Taiwan.
