China Unicom Chairman Chang to Be Chairman, CEO of Newly Merged Co

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- China Unicom said late Thursday Chairman and Chief Executive Chang Xiaobing will become the chairman and chief executive of the newly formed company that it will merge with China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong).

China Unicom said in a statement it expects the integration of the two companies to be complete one year after the merger.

It also expects the number of sales outlets of the merged company to exceed 18,000.

Wireless carrier China Unicom will merge with fixed-line operator China Netcom as part of the government-directed industry restructuring unveiled in late May.

-By Lorraine Luk, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; lorraine.luk@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 14th August 2008