t******g
发帖数: 462 | 1 YHOO盘后涨了一块钱, 不知道杨支援会不会又出来放大家鸽子
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are preparing a bid
for all of Yahoo Inc with Asian partners in a deal that could value the
Internet company at about $25 billion, a source familiar with the matter
said on Wednesday.
The potential bid by the consortium, which would include China's Alibaba
Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, has not yet been finalized, the source and
two other people familiar with the matter said.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose primary interest is in buying back a
40 percent stake owned by Yahoo, is keeping its options open and said it
has not decided whether to participate in a bid for all of Yahoo.
"Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole company bid for
Yahoo," Alibaba Group spokesman, John Spelich, said in an emailed statement
on Wednesday.
Yahoo's shares, which closed at $15.71 on the New York Stock Exchange on
Wednesday, gained 6.4 percent to $16.72 in after-hours trading, valuing the
company at more than $20 billion.
"Alibaba definitely wants to get its stake back from Yahoo, so whatever that
can make that happen, they will try for it," said Hong Kong-based JPMorgan
analyst, Dick Wei, adding Alibaba may finance the deal by taking on more
debt or finding a strategic buyer.
Alibaba, run by its founder and billionaire CEO Jack Ma, has ties with some
of the world's most prominent private equity funds and a group of investors
including Silver Lake purchased a 5 percent stake worth $1.6 billion in
early November.
A bid for Yahoo at more than $20 per share would mean a deal value of about
$25 billion based on 1.24 billion shares outstanding, potentially making it
the largest leveraged buyout in recent years.
Blackstone, Bain and Softbank declined to comment, while Yahoo
representatives were not immediately available to comment.
HEAT ON THE BOARD
Although a bid for all of Yahoo is not yet on the table, the latest twist
turns up the heat on Yahoo's board, which has received at least two offers
for a minority stake in the company according to people familiar with the
matter. One offer came from a consortium of Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp,
and another from TPG Capital. Silver Lake, Microsoft and TPG have declined
to comment.
Meanwhile, private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in
buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo, people familiar with the matter told
Reuters previously. Providence Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman are
also interested in a potential Yahoo deal. Thomas H. Lee, Providence and
Hellman & Friedman have declined to comment on the situation.
Bain and Blackstone have a track record of teaming up for joint investments.
In 2008, the two buyout firms, in partnership with NBC Universal, bought
the Weather Channel.
In 2006, the private equity firms teamed up for a $6 billion buyout of
Michaels Stores Inc, the biggest U.S. arts and crafts retailer.
Internet pioneer Yahoo has seen its growth stagnate in recent years due to
competition from Google Inc and Facebook and is currently without a
permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance.
Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started a strategic
review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with
a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang
and David Filo, the board and shareholders.
Yang has been exploring a deal with private equity firms to take the company
private, according to sources, in part because that would represent his
best chance of remaining involved with the company.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-bain-mull-yahoo-bid-00 |
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