HONG KONG—Shares of ZTE Corp. are set to resume trading on Wednesday following a nearly two-month suspension, after a fresh deal with U.S. authorities to keep the Chinese telecom giant in business.
ZTE said it filed paperwork with the Hong Kong stock exchange to resume trading in its shares there starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Trading in ZTE shares has been halted since April 17, just days after the U.S. Commerce Department issued an order banning American firms from selling to the company. The order forced ZTE to effectively close for business.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last week announced a deal with ZTE that is set to reverse the ban, put in place after the company was found to have violated a settlement resolving evasion of U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran. The deal requires ZTE to pay $1 billion, put another $400 million in escrow, as well as replace the company’s board of directors and senior leadership.
ZTE will resume business operations “as soon as practicable” after the sales ban is lifted, the company said. The ban remains in effect until ZTE pays the fine and deposits the sum in escrow, according to the Commerce Department.
Meanwhile, Republican Senate leaders set up a vote for this week that would undo the White House deal to revive ZTE. Lawmakers said that an agreement had been reached to wrap into the National Defense Authorization Act an amendment that would ban ZTE from buying components from U.S. suppliers. The defense-authorization bill is a must-pass measure that typically clears Congress with bipartisan support.
Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com