China’s Home Inns, Jiayuan agree take-private deals
Chinese budget hotel operator Home Inns and online dating site Jiayuan have agreed to be taken private and merge with industry counterparts.
According to a statement, Chinese state-owned BTG Hotels Group will pay $35.8 per share in cash to acquire all outstanding shares in Home Inns. This represents an 18.7% premium to the June 10 closing price and a 9.1% premium to the BTG-led consortium's initial proposal.
Neil Shen, managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, is also co-founder and co-chairman of Home Inns. The buyer group already owns about 35% of Home Inns, with Shen holding a 19.1% share, according to the 2014 annual report. Ctrip, a travel-booking platform also co-founded by Shen, is another shareholder and consortium member.
The buyout transaction valued Home Inn at approximately $1.7 billion. Now that the board has approved the deal, only shareholder and regulatory approval are required before completion.
Jiayuan, the largest online dating platform in China and a Qiming Venture Partners portfolio company, has agreed to be bought by Baihe Network in a deal that values the company at $250 million. The price of $7.56 per American Depository Share (ADS) represents a 62.9% premium to Jiayuan's last closing price before it received the first buyout offer from existing shareholder Vast Profit Holdings.
Vast Profit proposed to acquire all outstanding shares of Jiayuan at $5.37 per share in March but then it increased its offer to $7.20 per share in June as Jiayuan received multiple competing bids.
Baihe will fund the transaction with RMB150 million ($23.4 million) in cash plus a potential private placement of shares or through bank loans. Also an online-dating business, Baihe recently listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), more commonly known as the New Third Board.
Jiayuan went public mostly recently and Qiming had a 13.1% stake as of April, according to the company's 2014 annual report.
The take-private transaction is expected to close before the first quarter of next year. Jiayuan executive Linguang Wu will become co-chairman of the new combined company, which will change its name.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.