A group of private-equity firms, including Carlyle Group LP,
have withdrawn from a $1.9 billion offer to take Shanda Games Ltd.
private, the Chinese online-game company said Wednesday.
China-focused firm FountainVest Partners and Chinese
private-equity player Primavera Capital have also pulled out from
the consortium. The group was backing efforts by Shanda Games'
controlling shareholders to buy out the game company. Perfect World
Co., a Chinese rival, has also left the consortium, Nasdaq-listed
Shanda Games said.
Among additions to the group are affiliates of Chinese
brokerages Orient Securities Co. and Haitong Securities Co.--the
country's second-largest brokerage by assets--and Ningxia
Zhongyincashmere International Group Co., Shanda said.
Frank Tang, chief executive and managing partner of
FountainVest, confirmed the firm had pulled out of the consortium,
but he declined to comment further.
Representatives for Carlyle and Primavera weren't immediately
available for comment.
In January, Shanda Games' controlling shareholder, media company
Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd., said it and Primavera, had
offered $6.90 per American depositary share for the game company.
Shanda Interactive owns 65% of Shanda Games, according to S&P
CapitalIQ. Shanda Games listed in the U.S. in September 2009 with
an initial public offering price of $12.50 a share.
Perfect World and FountainVest joined the consortium in April,
according to separate filings, while Carlyle joined in May.
If successful, Shanda Games' take-private bid would be the
latest in a string of delistings by U.S.-traded Chinese companies
in the past few years after accounting scandals and alleged fraud
rocked share prices in the sector.
Another Shanda Games rival, Giant Interactive Group Inc.,
received a take-private offer in November from Chairman Yuzhu Shi
and private-equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia. The bid valued
the online-game developer at about $2.8 billion.
One of the largest of the take-private deals, also involving
Carlyle, was last year's $3.7 billion delisting by advertiser Focus
Media Holding Ltd., which was among China's biggest leveraged
buyouts.
Since then, however, U.S.-listed Chinese companies have seen
their shares once again rise as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s
potential blockbuster New York IPO looms. Take-private activity
involving Chinese companies in the U.S. has subsequently
slowed.
Write to Sonja Cheung at sonja.cheung@wsj.com and Prudence Ho at
prudence.ho@wsj.com
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