(Telecompaper) Telefonica is looking to sell around half of its five percent stake in Chinese mobile operator China Unicom for as much as USD 875 million. The Spanish group is offering 597.8 million China Unicom shares at HKD 11.14 to HKD 11.34 each, according to Bloomberg, which represents a 1.2 percent to 3 percent discount on the Chinese operator's last closing price in Hong Kong. Telefonica has been present in the Chinese telecommunications market since 2005 when it first acquired a 3 percent stake in China Netcom, which was then sold to Unicom in 2008. The Spanish operator then increased its stake in China Unicom to almost 10 percent in 2011 before selling around half of its shareholding in June 2012 for some USD 1.4 billion. Over the past two years Telefonica has been divesting businesses in countries such as Ireland and the Czech Republic to raise funds for acquisitions in core markets including Germany and Brazil.