China Mobile invests $780M in finance arm

China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) has set up a $780 million finance unit that the world’s largest wireless operator said would be used to “further strengthen the internal funds management and better control liquidity risks, and to fully and better leverage the advantages on capital resources to improve the overall economic benefits of the group.
The finance unit, dubbed China Mobile Finance, is being funded by China Mobile subsidiary Beijing Mobile to the tune of $720 million and China Mobile’s parent company China Mobile Communications Corp. financing the rest. CMCC’s position in that food chain means it will be the controlling shareholder of the new unit.
China Mobile counted more than 616 million customers at the end of the second quarter.