Subsidiaries of Chinese internet titans Alibaba and Tencent are among the entities investing in Bona Film Group as the Chinese studio delists from the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Bona announced on December 15 that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement that allows the company to go private after spending five years listed on the NASDAQ. A vehicle called Mountain Tiger International is acquiring Bona for $27.40 per ordinary share (or $13.70 per American depositary share) in a deal that values the company at $1bn.
This is 6.5% over the company’s closing price on June 11, 2015, the last day prior to its announcement that its had received a proposal to go private.
Investors in the deal include Alibaba affiliate Alibaba Pictures Group, Tencent affiliate Willow Investment, All Gain Ventures, Uranus Connection, Fosun International, private equity funds Sequoia Capital and SAIF Partners, along with Bona founder and CEO Yu Dong.
The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2016.
Several Chinese tech and media companies have recently decided to delist from US stock markets in order to stay private or seek higher valuations on stock markets closer to home.
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