Online Travel Site Qunar Agrees to $4.44 Billion Buyout

(Beijing) — Chinese online travel site Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd. has agreed to a merger with Ocean Management Holdings, a deal valued at $4.44 billion that will see Qunar delist from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, the digital travel services giant said it had received $4.44 billion from Ocean Management Holdings for both Qunar's American depositary shares (ADS) and ordinary shares other than those held by major shareholders.

Beijing-based Qunar said the money will allow it to buy back each ADS, which represents three ordinary shares, for $30.39, and also ordinary shares for $10.13 each. The offer represents a 15% hike on Qunar's closing ADS price on June 22, its last trading day on the Nasdaq before its announcement of the proposal to go private.

Chinese companies listed overseas are opting to go private as China-related stocks are losing their appeal to foreign investors, pushing down prices.

The ADS price for Qunar, which listed on the Nasdaq in November 2013, lost nearly half its value from an all-time high of $54.78 on Dec. 30, 2015, to $29.46 on Wednesday.

Ocean Management Holdings operates hotel and travel businesses and is controlled by Alex Zheng, chairman of Plateno Group Co. Ltd.　

Zheng, who operates the budget hotel chain 7 Days and several upmarket hotels, is also a co-founder of digital travel-services provider Ctrip, a Qunar rival.

A private fund manager with the knowledge of the deal who asked not to be named told Caixin that Ctrip was involved in the Qunar privatization deal but was acting through a company Zheng controls due to anti-trust concerns.

A Ctrip employee who requested anonymity agreed that Ctrip was indeed behind the deal. Other media have also reported Ctrip's involvement in the deal.

Ctrip acquired 45% of voting rights on the board of Qunar in a complex share swap with Chinese search giant Baidu Inc. in October 2015, a deal that gave Baidu a 25% voting rights share in Qunar.

Ctrip held a 43.8% stake in Qunar, or 190 million of Qunar's shares, at the end of March, according to documents Qunar filed with the SEC.

The Qunar deal follows that of eLong Inc., another Chinese online travel booking site listed in the United States that went private earlier in June.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com); editor Kerry Nelson (kerry@caixin.com)