China Unicom to issue $2.4 bln in short-term paper

A unit of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the country's No.2 mobile operator, will make a 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), 180-day short-term commercial paper issue, sources said on Friday.

The paper, to be issued by China United Network Communications Ltd in two tranches, had been submitted to the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) and would be launched after registration was complete, one of the sources said.

The three sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The issue's main underwriters are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp.