Corrected: Burkle’s Stake In Xinhua Financial Media: Some Details
By Joseph Weisenthal - Wed 10 Oct 2007 12:20 PM PST
A recent SEC filing indicates that Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa fund got a pretty nice deal when it purchased a stake in Xinhua Financial Media (NSDQ: XFML) at the end of September. The 8.57 million share stake, which was purchased from company insiders, cost the fund $25.72 million or $3 per share. At the time the deal was announced, shares in XFML were trading near $9 share, while the lowest the company’s shares got this summer was $5.20. Already the purchase represents a $60 million profit, although there’s no indication that Burkle is interested in a quick flip. Xinhua has been under a cloud of controversy for several months amid questions about its corporate governance. The fact that insiders were willing to sell at such a discount might suggest a level of concern over the company’s fortunes not previously expressed. Filing. (via NYP.)
Disclaimer: Larry Kramer, our board member, recently joined Xinhua’s board as well.
Correction: As a commenter correctly points out, Burkle’s acquisition of 8.57 million shares is actually the equivalent of 4.28 million U.S. shares, based on a 2-1 ADR ratio. As such, his $25.7 million investment comes out to $6 per share, not $3. This is still below the $9 that XFML shares were trading at on the day of the announcement, but his discount to the market was not as big as initially reported.
Posted in: Countries, Asia, China, Information, VC+M&A
