After a management buyout, some believe $SNDA will head back to its native Shanghai and list there instead.
Shareholders of Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ:SNDA), one of China’s biggest web and gaming companies, have voted overwhelmingly to back Shanda’s plan for a management buyout, with the intention to go private and delist from NASDAQ. The management buyout is led by founder and current chairman Chen Tian-qiao along with his wife and brother.
87.3 percent of voters at yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting agreed to the move, according to a company press release, which proposes buying up all the outstanding shares at a 25 percent premium from their level last October when this was first put forward. It will thereby cost the management team an estimated US$750 million.
Some analysts believe that this act of delisting and then going private is actually a necessary prelude to Shanda Interactive listing on the Shanghai stock exchange, which could blaze a trail for future Chinese IPOs.
Shanda’s gaming division, Shanda Games (NASDAQ:GAME) is entirely separate and not a part of this move. Shanda Interactive, aside from its online gaming subsidiary, is a major Chinese web company, with music, video, social, and e-book platforms. Earlier this week we previewed the company’s plans to launch its own brand of smartphone running a customized version of the Android OS. $SNDA closed yesterday at $41.28 per share.