Traders work on the floor during the IPO of China Online Education Group at the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo : Getty Images)
Zhaopin.com, a Chinese online recruitment website, said that it is in talks with a consortium that is led by its largest shareholder to take the company private. This marks the third bid in one of the most contested buyouts of U.S.-listed Chinese firms.
Zhaopin said that it is currently in advanced discussions with a group that is headed by SEEK International Investments, which members included Hillhouse Capital and an affiliate of FountainVest partners. The consortium is proposing to buy all of Zhaopin's American depositary shares (ADS).
SEEK International currently owns 61.3 percent of Zhaopin's shares. It also controls 74.6 percent of its voting rights.
This offer marks the third privatization bid for Zhaopin. It is said to be the latest in a series of similar buyouts for U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
Many offers such as this one are being launched by management-led groups, which believe that relisting back in China can make their stocks to have higher valuations, as their stocks are currently underappreciated by Wall Street Investors.
Zhaopin is listed at a price of $13.6 per ADS on the Nasdaq Stock Market in June 2014. It received its first buyout offer when a group of investors proposed buying all of the ADSs not held by SEEK for $17.50 a piece 19 months later it listed its price.
Four months later, another group that is led by company CEO Evan Guo and a venture capital firm Sequoia China, offered $17.75 per ADS.
Zhaopin stated that it has set up a special committee for deciding on the latest offer. Zhaopin ADSs closed down to 0.4 percent at $15.94 per share in the latest session in New York.
The stock has traded between $13.70 to $16.90 per share over the last 52 weeks, which reflects how investor changed their sentiments on about whether a buyout would close or not.
