Temasek to buy Chinese software firm Asiainfo for S$1.116 billion

ALL content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
http://business.asiaone.com/news/temasek-group-buy-chinese-software-firm-asiainfo

A consortium comprising China's CITIC Capital and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings has agreed to buy Asiainfo-Linkage Inc for about US$900 million (S$1.116 billion).

The CITIC Capital-led group agreed to pay $12 per share for Asiainfo-Linkage, which provides software to telecommunications companies, including China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

The price is 2.8 per cent higher than Asiainfo's closing price of $11.68 on Friday and the same as CITIC Capital's initial bid in January 2012.

The consortium, which includes company founder Edward Tian, is expected to stump up about $670 million in equity, while the rest of the funding will be through a $330 million debt package, sources told Reuters. The sources declined to be identified as the information was not public yet.

Asiainfo was not subject to any accounting scandals, yet the company's shares lost half their value in two years to 2011, after which CITIC Capital made its original offer last year.

Morgan Stanley acted as lead financial adviser to CITIC Capital, while Nomura International and ICBC International Capital Ltd acted as co-advisers to the private equity firm. China Renaissance Holdings Ltd advised Asiainfo-Linkage's founder Tian.