PE-backed Giant completes $2b backdoor listing in Shenzhen

According to a filing, Shenzhen-listed Chongqing New Century sold its original cruise ship and travel agency business to its controlling shareholders. Subsequent to that, it has issued RMB13.1 billion worth of shares to acquire Giant Interactive's assets from existing shareholders, including Hony Capital and CDH Investments' wealth management platform. Giant Interactive has now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chongqing New Century.

Meanwhile, the listed shell has raised RMB5 billion from new investors through a private placement as part of efforts to finance the deal. Eight domestic investors including Guotai Asset Management and China Minsheng Investment have agreed to subscribe to shares.

The backdoor listing was first announced in October of last year and it won regulatory approval in March. Giant, which went public in the US in 2007, was privatized in 2014 at a valuation of around $2.9 billion. PE investors led by Baring Private Equity Asia, Hony, and CDH participated in the deal alongside Yuzhu Shi, CEO of Giant. The consortium owns about 49.3% of Giant, the majority of which is held by Shi.

Giant focuses on massively multiplayer online role playing games and currently operates 15 titles, of which 12 are self-developed. It is also developing web games and mobile games, and generates further revenue by licensing its titles in markets beyond China.

At the time, Giant represented the second-largest private equity-backed take-private of a US-listed Chinese company, following the $3.7 billion acquisition of Focus Media. The outdoor advertising business completed a $7.37 billion reverse merger in December of last year. Since then, shareholder approval has been granted for a $9.3 billion take-private of Qihoo 360 Technology.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• IPO
• Technology
• TMT
• China
• IPO
• Baring Private Equity Asia
• CDH Investments Management
• Hony Capital