GREENWICH, Conn. and
BEIJING, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- General Atlantic LLC
("GA"), a leading global growth equity firm, today announced that
it has agreed to invest $163 million
to acquire a 19% stake in SouFun Holdings Limited (NYSE: SFUN)
("SouFun") at its IPO price from Telstra, the selling shareholder.
GA will be partnering with Apax Partners ("Apax") who will invest
an equal amount on the same terms. SouFun is the largest online
real estate portal in China that
became an NYSE-listed company on September
17, 2010. Jeff Leng, Managing
Director at General Atlantic, will be joining SouFun's board of
directors.
Founded in 1999, SouFun has established itself as one of the
fastest-growing companies in China. The company currently maintains 63
offices across China to focus on
local market needs with content coverage in 106 cities in
China. SouFun has over 139,000
listings for new residential property complexes, approximately
eight million listings of secondary and rental residential
properties, and over 140,000 listings of commercial properties for
sale and lease. In addition, the company provides over 8,000 brands
and one million listings from home furnishing and improvement
vendors across China.
Vincent Mo, Founder and Chairman
of SouFun, commented, "We are very happy that SouFun has become a
NYSE-listed company and has received investments from General
Atlantic and Apax Partners, two of the world's leading private
equity funds. Both GA and Apax are experienced investors in
the online space. Their expertise and network will contribute
to the continued success of SouFun as China's leading pure-play online real estate
portal. The management is deeply committed to delivering
strong shareholder value to all shareholders."
GA has been an active investor in China since 2000, with investments in several
companies including Alibaba Group, Oak Pacific Interactive
(RenRen.com), ZhongSheng Group (HKSE: 881), Wuxi Apptech (NYSE: WX)
and Lenovo (HKSE: 992).
Jeff Leng, Managing Director and
head of China operations at
General Atlantic, said, "We have been very impressed with the
leadership of Vincent, the strength of SouFun's team and Soufun's
dominant market position. The company has a clear competitive
advantage in online real estate advertising and listing market. The
opportunities for continued growth and expansion are tremendous.
Expanding the existing network of cities, leveraging their user
base for additional product/service offerings and enhancing their
technology to continue to scale are just few of the exciting new
opportunities ahead. We look forward to a strong and productive
partnership."
"As the leading real estate internet portal in China, SouFun is very well-positioned to
continue to expand due to their broad geographic coverage and
highly scalable business model," added Jing
Hong, Principal with General Atlantic. "We are excited to be
partnering with a management team that has such deep experience and
a proven track record."
A leader in recognizing the transformative potential of
technology and the internet, General Atlantic has invested nearly
$2.0 billion in leading media and
consumer companies since 1995. Notable current and prior
investments in the ecommerce space include Alibaba Group, Oak
Pacific Interactive, Gilt, MercadoLibre, Priceline and E*trade.
GA invests in the $2 billion range
on a global basis, with an average investment size of just over
$200 million in 2010. In addition to
the media and consumer sector, General Atlantic focuses on
providing growth equity globally to emerging leaders in health
care; energy and resources; business services and technology; and
financial services.
About SouFun Holdings Limited
SouFun Holdings Limited (NYSE: SFUN) is the leading real estate
Internet portal and home furnishing and improvement website in
China in terms of the number of
page views and visitors to its website in 2009. SouFun obtained
advertisements from 60% of online real estate advertisers among
real estate information services websites in 2009 in China. SouFun has built a large and active
community of users who are attracted by the comprehensive real
estate and home furnishing and improvement content available on its
portal and which form the foundation of its service offerings.
SouFun currently maintains 63 offices in order to focus on local
market needs and covers 106 cities with real estate-related
content, search services, marketing and listing coverage in
China. SouFun had 4,810 employees
as of June 30, 2010. SouFun's former
and current major shareholders include IDG Venture Capital and
Telstra. Following the company's IPO on September 17, 2010, General Atlantic and Apax
Partners, two well-known private equity funds, have become major
shareholders of SouFun.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm
providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. GA
combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific
expertise, long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of
growth drivers to partner with great management and build
exceptional businesses worldwide. Established in 1980, GA manages
approximately $15 billion in capital
and has more than 75 investment professionals based in Greenwich, New York, Palo Alto, London, Dusseldorf, Hong
Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and Sao
Paulo. For further information and a listing of GA's public
and private portfolio companies see www.generalatlantic.com.
Media Contacts:
Pat Hedley
General Atlantic
203-629-8658
phedley@generalatlantic.com
|
Adam Weiner or Peter
Hill
Kekst and Company
212-521-4800
adam-weiner@kekst.com
or peter-hill@kekst.com
|
|
|
|
SOURCE General Atlantic LLC
Copyright . 20 PR Newswire