Chinese telecom software provider AsiaInfo-Linkage (NASDAQ: ASIA) announced this morning that it has agreed to be acquired by a private investor consortium led by CITIC Capital Partners for approximately $890 million.
AsiaInfo shareholders will receive $12.00 per share for their stock under the deal, which represents a 52% premium over the closing price on Jan. 11, 2012, the last trading day prior to AsiaInfo-Linkage's receipt of a "going private" proposal from CITIC Capital Partners, and represents a 53% premium over the 30-trading-day volume-weighted average price as of the same date. Since then, AsiaInfo has traded in a range between $10 and $14 a share and closed on Friday at $11.68 per share.
The buyer consortium is being led by CITIC Capital Partners and Edward Tian, AsiaInfo's co-founder and a "significant" stockholder of AsiaInfo-Linkage, both of whom will provide equity financing for the acquisition. CITIC Capital Partners is the private equity arm of CITIC Capital Holdings Limited. It invests globally in companies that are capitalizing on the "growth and productive resources of the Chinese economy."
Bank of Taiwan, Cathay United Bank, ICBC International Capital, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, and Nomura International are helping arrange a debt facility of $330 million to finance the acquisition.
AsiaInfo's board of directors recommends shareholders agree to the offer.
