Malaysia-headquartered online car sales platform iCar Asia has received a takeover proposal from NYSE-listed Chinese peer Autohome Inc at the price of A$0.5 ($0.35) per share.
The development confirms DealStreetAsia’s report in September that the Catcha Group affiliate was up for sale.
If successful in its bid, Autohome will acquire around 450 million iCar Asia shares—these include about 431 million shares on issue and another 20 million options that will be exercised—at A$0.50 each, explained the startup’s board member and Catcha Group co-founder Patrick Grove.
That makes the potential deal worth A$225 million ($158 million).
At the end of trading hours on Friday, iCar Asia’s stock was up 31.8 per cent over the previous day.
The proposal is subject to a number of conditions including negotiation and signing of transaction documentation, approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, and iCar shareholder and court approval, the company said in an announcement.
In conjunction with the takeover proposal from Autohome, iCar said it has made the first drawdown of A$1 million on a A$5 million loan facility from the Catcha Group.
Catcha has waived all rights to receive or accrue any interest in respect of the loan facility, iCar said.
The online vehicle platform has issued more than 7.5 million options to Catcha, with an exercise price of A$0.2 upon drawing down on the facility.
Catcha Group held a 10.9 per cent stake in iCar Asia as of 2019-end, according to iCar’s annual financial report. Its largest shareholder is ICQ Holdings Berhad, a Malaysian entity with former links to Rev Asia Berhad, another Catcha Group-backed entity.
iCar said there would be no certainty that the proposal will result in a transaction. Meanwhile, Australian car classifieds platform Carsales.com, iCar’s second-largest shareholder with an 11.87 per cent stake, had also attempted a similar buyout.
iCar posted a total net operating cash outflow of A$1.05 million for the third quarter this year, up 32 per cent year-on-year. The company’s unaudited revenue for Q3 2020 showed a 33 per cent increase over the previous quarter. It added that operations in Malaysia and Thailand were EBITDA positive in the third quarter.