Focus Media, a Chinese advertising company listed in the US, said it received a $3.5bn offer to take the company private from its chief executive and a group of private equity firms including Carlyle.
Focus, which operates screens that display advertisements in elevators and retail outlets, would become the latest Chinese company to consider delisting with the help of private equity if the deal goes through. The bid represents a 16 per cent premium over the company’s closing price on Nasdaq on Friday.
Private equity executives say they expect more Chinese companies listed in the US to go private amid investors’ growing doubts – warranted or not – about the accounting practices of such Chinese businesses.