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Huawei Drops Euro Bond Sale Over US Criminal Probe: Report

Huawei dropped a plan to host its first euro-denominated bond sale after learning that the United States Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into its Iran dealings, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a confirmation from the company itself. The reason for the move hasn’t been provided in any official capacity, with many industry watchers speculating the DOJ’s probe is the likely reason behind the development given how the bond sale was on course of being a resounding success; Huawei has been seeking €500 million ($604 million) worth of bonds with a five-year debt and attracted over €2 billion in offers. The cancellation of the sale isn’t meant to suggest the company won’t push for a similar move in the future, the Chinese tech giant suggested.

The latest investigation into the company is reportedly seeking to determine whether Huawei violated the U.S. trade sanctions imposed on Iran, effectively looking into the same issue that already cost ZTE $892 million in fines last year and recently saw it hit with another set of sanctions preventing it from purchasing American technologies for the next seven years, which will effectively kill its global smartphone ambitions less the federal decision is overturned. Huawei’s long history of problems with the U.S. government is hence being updated with yet another episode whose outcome remains unclear. This January, AT&T was said to have been pressured by stateside lawmakers to drop its plan to carry Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro Android flagship which was meant to mark the Chinese firm’s major foray into the world’s largest market for high-end handsets where the vast majority of annual sales are completed through wireless carriers.

American legislators and regulators have been repeatedly accusing Huawei of posing a security risk to the nation due to its close ties to Beijing, a notion that the company has been dismissing throughout the 21st century, arguing it’s owned by its employees and isn’t a puppet of the Chinese government. The firm is now said to be turning its international focus back to Europe where governments have been historically more receptive of its products and services, much to the dismay of Washington who has been warning its allies against using Huawei’s offerings for years.