What are the details?
Momo Inc. (Nasdaq:MOMO), a leading mobile social networking platform in China, today announced that its board of directors has received a non-binding proposal letter, dated June 23, 2015, from Mr. Yan Tang, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Momo, Matrix Partners China II Hong Kong Limited, Sequoia Capital China Investment Management L.P. and Huatai Ruilian Fund Management Co., Ltd., proposing a “going-private” transaction to acquire all of the outstanding Class A ordinary shares of Momo not already owned by the Buyer Group for US$18.90 in cash per American depositary share, which represents a premium of 20.5% to the closing trading price of the Company’s ADS on June 22, 2015, the last trading day prior to the date hereof.
The Buyer Group and their affiliates beneficially own an aggregate of approximately 47.8% of all of the Company’s issued and outstanding Shares, which represent approximately 84.1% of the aggregate voting power of the Company.
According to the proposal letter, the Buyer Group intends to fund the consideration payable in the Transaction with a combination of debt and/or equity capital, and rollover equity in the Company. A copy of the proposal letter is attached as Annex A to this press release.
The Board has formed a special committee comprised of two independent, disinterested directors, Messrs. Dave Daqing Qi and Benson Bing Chung Tam. The special committee ā€ˇplans to retain legal and financial advisors to assist it in evaluating the Transaction.
In a statement the company said:
“The Board cautions the Company’s shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that the Board just received the non-binding proposal letter from the Buyer Group and no decisions have been made with respect to the Company’s response to the Transaction. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.
“Momo is a leading mobile social networking platform in China. Momo connects people in a personal and lively way through a revolutionary mobile-based social networking platform. With powerful and precise location-based features, Momo enables users to connect with each other and expand relationships from online to offline. Momo’s platform includes the Momo mobile application and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that it provides to users, customers and platform partners”.