Chinese smartphone maker Honor announces new investors

By David Kirton

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – Chinese smartphone maker Honor announced new investors on Thursday, including China Telecom and a unit of CICC Capital Corp, almost a year after it said it was planning an initial public offering (IPO).

Honor, a former unit of Huawei Technologies, did not disclose the amount of the investment.

Other backers include China’s Cornerstone, the Shenzhen city government’s SDG Group and Jinshi Xingyao, an investment platform for Honor’s channel partners, Honor said.

The smartphone maker said last November it was pursuing an initial public offering, without disclosing a location or timetable for the listing.

Honor was China’s third best-selling smartphone maker in the third quarter with 10.3 million shipments and a 15% market share, behind Vivo and Huawei, according to data from research firm Canalys.

Honor secured an undisclosed investment amount from China Mobile in August.

That same month, Reuters reported that the company had received an unusually high level of support from the government in its hometown of Shenzhen, including research and development funding and tax breaks.

(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Nicholas Yong)