China's 7 Days Group Holdings, owner of the country's second largest hotel chain, received a buyout offer to go private last week from a consortium that includes the Carlyle Group, Sequoia Capital China and the company's co-chairmen Boquan He and Nanyan Zheng, according to a 7 Days' press release dated Sept. 26.
The offer is to buy all outstanding shares, in cash, for $4.23 per ordinary share and $12.70 per American Depositary Share, subject to certain conditions. The proposal values the hotel chain at $635 million.
The company press release states the consortium plans to finance the transaction with a combination of equity capital funded by the buyers and third-party debt.
If the deal goes through it will be the latest in a trend that emerged last year of going-private transactions involving China-based companies, especially those listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange. Law Business Research's Private Equity Review reported that there were nine major such transactions announced or closed in 2011, and in July The Financial Times reported that private equity firms, "are scouring US markets for listed Chinese companies trading at low prices that want to go private."
7 Days has recorded double-digit revenue growth every quarter for the past two years, according to Asian Venture Capital Journal . The company has 1,132 hotels in operation and another 236 under construction as stated on its website.
The Carlyle Group has made other considerable private equity investments in China-based hotels. It acquired a controlling stake in Mandarin Hotel Holdings in July, which operates 25 designer hotels in six Chinese cities, and also invested in Zhejiang Kaiyuan Hotel Management back in 2007.
7 Days will form a special independent committee to consider the proposal.
Related Links:
Join the Conversation