Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is advising Chinese classified advertising site 58.com Inc on its agreement to buy a 43.2 percent stake in its privately-held competitor Ganji.com, which turned to Kirkland & Ellis for advice.
New York-listed 58.com, dubbed the Craigslist of China and backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, said it would issue 34 million new ordinary shares and pay $412.2 million in cash to acquire the stake in Ganji.com. At the current market price, the deal is valued at $1.6 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
At the same time, social networking firm Tencent will invest about $400 million in 58.com, leaving its stake at roughly 25.1 percent, 58.com said. Tencent is being represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Skadden Hong Kong partners Julie Gao, Will Cai, Haiping Li and Rory McAlpine, and Los Angeles partner Michael Gisser are advising 58.com on its transactions with Ganji.com and Tencent. Han Kun Law Offices is advising the company on Chinese law.
A Kirkland & Ellis team led by Hong Kong corporate partners David Zhang and Jesse Sheley, and Shanghai partner Cheryl Yuan is advising Ganji.com. Weil, Gotshal & Manges is representing a selling shareholder, led by recently hired Hong Kong partner Tim Gardner.
The deal with Ganji.com is aimed at integrating the two businesses to decrease costs while bolstering revenues, 58.com CEO Michael Yao was quoted as saying in a statement.
The firms will operate their own brands, websites and teams, according to the statement.
