China Mobile’s bid to acquire an 18 per cent stake in True Corp has been approved by shareholders of the Thai operator, according to Reuters.

The deal, announced in June, will see China Mobile spend $880 million via its subsidiary CMI Holdings to acquire new shares issued by True.

The share sale is part of True Corp’s plan to raise $2 billion in equity issue. In a separate filing to the China Mobile deal, True outlined plans to raise $1.1 billion in a rights issue.

The Thai operator is looking to raise funds to cut debt and finance the rollout of 4G services. The company had been considering an ‘infrastructure fund’ IPO to raise funds, in which it would sell infrastructure assets and lease them back to provide the fund with steady revenue.

At the end of the second quarter, True had 23.4 million connections, according to GSMA Intelligence figures. This put it in third place behind market leader AIS, which had 43.3 million connections, and Telenor-owned DTAC on 28 million connections.

China Mobile, which is the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers and connections, first expanded outside its home market in 2007, when it acquired control of the Pakistan unit of Millicom International for £284 million. The Zong brand now has 25.6 million connections, making it the third-largest operator in Pakistan.

An agreement for China Mobile to acquire a stake in Taiwan’s Far EasTone was ditched in April last year after regulatory hurdles proved too difficult to overcome.