HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU) said Tuesday its shareholders approved its plan to buy back a 3.8% stake from SK Telecom Co. (017670.SE) for HK$9.99 billion (US$1.28 billion).

The Chinese carrier said in September it had proposed buying back 899.75 million of its shares from SK Telecom at HK$11.105 each.

At 0734 GMT, China Unicom's share were trading down 3.3%at HK$9.77 on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

China Unicom said it would fund the share repurchase from its cash flow and working capital, or external financing, or a combination of the three.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-03-09 0302ET