- Leading Chinese social media company SINA Corp (NASDAQ: SINA) recently announced a deal to go private
Leading Chinese social media company SINA Corp (NASDAQ: SINA) recently announced a deal to go private after an organization led by its chairman Charles Chao boosted the offer for the company to $43.30 per share in cash.
This deal implied a value of $2.59 billion and it represented a 7.7% premium of the company’s closing price on September 25 and an 18.1% premium to the closing price on July 2 — which is the last trading day prior to the company’s announcement of its receipt of the preliminary non-binding “going private” proposal from New Way. This deal is also up from the $41 per share that was proposed earlier by New Wave Holdings Ltd.
SINA went public back in 2000 during the dot-com boom and it survived the downturn. SINA also operates a Twitter-like service called Weibo.
And this past July, New Wave had submitted a preliminary non-binding proposal letter for taking the company private.
The merger consideration is going to be funded through a combination of certain committed term loan facilities obtained by New Wave from China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. and cash contribution by the Chairman and New Wave.
And the Company’s board of directors — acting upon the unanimous recommendation of a committee of independent directors established by the Board— approved the merger agreement and the merger, and resolved to recommend that the company’s shareholders vote to authorize and approve the merger agreement and the merger. The Special Committee negotiated the terms of the merger agreement with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors.
Morgan Stanley Asia Limited is serving as financial advisor to the Special Committee. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Special Committee. And Harney Westwood & Riegels is serving as Cayman Islands legal counsel to the Special Committee. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to New Wave.
