A spokesperson for China Mobile (CHL.NYSE; 00941.HK), the largest telecom operator in China, said on Wednesday afternoon that it has no intent to purchase any shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. (00700.HK).

Stimulated by hearsay that China Mobile will purchase Tencent, the latter's share price surged to a high of 151.6 Hong Kong dollars during Wednesday's trading and closed at 150.4 HK dollars, up 5.99 percent.

Previous media reports said that China Mobile's president Wang Jianzhou visited Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen on Dec. 31, 2009, possibly to discuss an acquisition.

However, one of China Mobile's employees reiterated that Wang's meeting with Tencent was an ordinary visit. That same day Wang also visited China Wireless Technologies Ltd. (02369.HK), parent of mobile device maker Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd.

An insider revealed that if China Mobile and Tencent's meeting involved capital cooperation plans, there was no need for Wang to show up, and no financial executives were involved in the entourage.

China Mobile's visit with Tencent represents its high attention to the Internet industry, which is the development trend for mobile Internet. Even if China Mobile considers acquiring Internet firms, Tencent wouldn't be an ideal target in view of its market value of 270 billion yuan, which is too expensive, said the insider.

Source:Xinhua