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Entity Type: PRC Company

Interacom Asia Group Limited

Written by CMP Staff on .

Interacom Asia Group Limited (交流亚洲集团有限公司), registered in Hong Kong in November 2014, is a private company with company number 2164889. According to a Hong Kong Companies Registry annual return filed in November 2023, Ma Chao (马超) is listed as the company’s sole director and 100 percent shareholder, with a correspondence address in Beijing’s Shunyi District. In 2013, Interacom invested approximately 103 million dollars alongside China Development Bank and CCTV in the South African media group Independent Media. During a public testimony before South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation inquiry in 2019, Independent Media chairman Iqbal Survé confirmed the investment structure, saying that “interest payments to the Chinese had to be made because that was the structure of the transaction.” According to State Media Monitor, ownership is now channeled through “Interacom Investment Holding Ltd, jointly controlled by CITVC and CADFund,” with CITVC being wholly owned by China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV.

Transsion Holdings

Written by CMP Staff on .

Transsion Holdings (傳音控股), founded in August 2013 in Shenzhen by George Zhu (竺兆江), is a consumer electronics manufacturer specializing in smartphones and mobile devices for emerging markets. The company is one of Africa’s dominant smartphone manufacturers, earning Zhu the moniker “Africa’s Mobile King” (非洲手機之王). The company went public on Shanghai’s STAR Market (an exchange for sci-tech companies) in September 2019, raising 400 million US dollars. Together, Transsion’s TECNO, Infinix, and Itel mobile brands control 51 percent of Africa’s smartphone market. According to analysts, it has performed strongly by offering localized features such as camera algorithms tailored for darker skin tones as well as support for African languages. The company has expanded beyond Africa into Southeast Asia, Latin America, and South Asia. Chinese state media have celebrated Zhu’s success, with such outlets as the Global Times (环球时报), affiliated with the Party’s official People’s Daily, praising him for his role in China-Africa relations.