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Telstra to sell out of Chinese web property, SouFun
Stuart Corner
Friday, 13 August 2010 11:37
Page 1 of 2
Telstra is gearing up to exit its Chinese subsidiary, SouFun, which operates the country's largest real estate web portal.
Telstra has now announced that two private equity firms (General Atlantic and Apax Partners) and two existing shareholders of the parent company, SouFun Holdings, have agreed to purchase any remaining shares of SouFun held by Telstra that are not sold in the IPO.
They will by these at the IPO price up to an agreed maximum. However no further details of timeframe for the IPO have been announced, other than it is planned for calendar 2010.
Telstra says that, "in the event an initial public offering of SouFun is not completed within a specified period of time, the two private equity firms and the two existing SouFun shareholders have also agreed to purchase Telstra's entire shareholding in SouFun at a price based on a valuation of 100 percent of SouFun at $US810m." Telstra purchased its stake, then 51 percent, in SouFun in 2006 for $US254m.
Last month Reuters said that SouFun was preparing for a US IPO that could be worth up to $US300 million, in what it said could be the largest such listing by a Chinese Web company this year. The value of SouFun is now put at around $US1b, according to Reuters.
SouFun chairman Vincent Mo had told a Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in June 2009 that SouFun was eyeing an IPO early in 2010 in Hong Kong or the US if the global economy recovered.
Telstra's foray into China does not appear to have met expectations. Since investing in SouFun, Telstra has purchased majority interests in Norstar Media, operator of popular Chinese auto and digital device sites Che168.com and IT168.com; and Autohome/PCPop, operator of the country's leading automotive online sales site Autohome.com.cn and popular digital device site PCPop.com.
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