(Yicai Global) Nov. 17 -- Six companies, including Chinese display panel giant BOE Technology Group, have become new shareholders of budget phone brand Honor.

The others are Zhongjin Qizhi Equity Investment Management Shanghai, Rosy Fable Asia, Comprehensive Reform Win Win Hangzhou Equity Investment Fund Partnership, Guosen Securities, and Shenzhen Baoan District Investment Management Group, according to corporate data platform Qichacha. No shareholding ratios were disclosed.

Huawei Technologies founded Honor in 2013 and sold the Shenzhen-based company in late 2020 to a new firm set up by Shenzhen’s state-owned enterprises manager and more than 30 agents and distributors to free it from US curbs on the Chinese tech giant buying of American technologies.

“Honor's revenue, profit, and operating cash flow are growing steadily, and it sticks to a diverse ownership structure, being open and willing to cooperate with others,” the firm said yesterday. “Honor is committed to joining hands with its partners in the industrial chain to provide users with innovative products and better experience, and improve services for global consumers.”

The latest deal will enhance the partnership between BOE, China's largest maker of organic light emitting diode panels by capacity, and Honor, the country's biggest headset brand by market share, Zhou Hua, chief analyst at Cinno Research, told Yicai Global.

Huawei's shipments have slumped in recent years, causing BOE's orders to fall short of its supply capacity, Zhou added, noting that as Honor also makes tablets, notebook computers, and televisions it can place more orders with BOE.

“It's important for Honor to get a stable and reliable source of displays as it’s growing bigger,” he said. Chen Jun, deputy general manager of market research firm Sigmaintell, shared that opinion.

BOE becoming Honor's shareholder can be positive and negative, an insider said. It can stabilize the pair's partnership, but will likely badly affect BOE's and Honor's other tie-ups.

Shares of BOE [SHE: 000725] closed unchanged at CNY3.68 (52 US cents) apiece today.

Editor: Martin Kadiev