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Daniel Ren

Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang who controls acquisitive conglomerate Fosun Group plans to spend 4 billion yuan (US$630 million) to buy a controlling stake in dating service provider Baihe Network, charting a new course into the online matchmaking business.
Guo, 51, has agreed with 32 shareholders to buy 869 million shares, or a 69.2 per cent stake, at 4.6 yuan apiece, according to a statement published by Baihe on Thursday.
The billionaire will conduct the buyout through Ningbo-based Yuanhong Investment, a firm that is wholly owned by Guo.
Baihe, one of the mainland’s largest dating sites, is traded on the Beijing’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations, or “new third board”, an over-the-counter equity exchange slated for technology start-ups.
Exclusive interview: Here’s how tai chi (and Warren Buffett) inspired Fosun founder to become one of China’s biggest asset buyers

“Yuanhong aims to chase high-growth opportunities in new economy businesses related to the internet,” Guo’s company said in a statement. “After the acquisition, the company expects to profit from the further growth of Baihe.”
In 2017 Baihe posted a net profit of 65 million yuan, reversing from a loss of 114 million yuan a year earlier.
The company’s services span online and offline dating, consulting and event organising, including wedding planning.
In 2015, Baihe acquired and privatised Nasdaq-listed Jiayuan.com International, one of its major rivals.
“Compared to e-commerce and e-payment, online dating is a market that has yet to be fully tapped,” said Cao Hua, a partner at private equity group Unity Asset Management. “The number of registered users appears to be huge and online matchmaking has the potential to grow.”
Baihe has 310 million registered users and 200 outlets that offer dating services.
Fosun buying US$40m majority stake, and will launch full takeover, of Austrian luxury textiles firm Wolford

The transaction is subject to approval by regulators.
Fosun has evolved from a developer and health care provider into an investment conglomerate with businesses covering retail, finance, steel, tourism, entertainment and pharmaceuticals. It organises its sprawling businesses under the themes of wealth, health and happiness. “Wealth” covers Fosun’s insurance and wealth management operations, “health” comprises pharmaceutical products, healthcare, while “Happiness” includes resorts under the Club Mediterranee brand, the Atlantis resort in Hainan and a stake in Cirque du Soleil, among other investments.
Since 2010, the Shanghai-based company has been on a global asset shopping spree, acquiring Portugal’s largest insurance group Fidelidade, French luxury resort operator Club Med, a 9.5 per cent stake in jewellery and fashion accessories brand Folli Follie, and a minority stake in entertainment company Cirque du Soleil.
The rising spending power among Chinese consumers has also drawn a spotlight on opportunities related to consumption.
Start-ups listed on Beijing’s ‘new third board’ eye Hong Kong IPOs

Last year, Fosun bought 18 per cent of Tsingtao Brewery for US$844 million.
Meanwhile, Baihes’ revenue surged 258 per cent to reach 671 million yuan in 2017.
Based on the acquisition by Fosun, Baihe is valued at US$910 million.
The company is a potential unicorn, or privately held technology company with valuation of at least US$1 billion.


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Fosun Group

For Fosun’s founder, ‘happiness’ is in owning one of China’s biggest dating websites

Guo Guangchang executive director and chairman of Fosun International speaking in Sanya on April 29, 2018. Photo: Dickson Lee

China's Fosun-led consortium to buy into Russia’s Polyus, says report

The Chinese side will have the right to sell a portion of Polyus’s gold production in line with the size of the stake which the consortium buys. Photo: AFP

China’s Fosun Pharma eyes expansion in European and US markets

Chen Qiyu says the company wants to hire people who are ambitious and hungry and who treat the business as their own.”Photo: Jonathan Wong

China’s Fosun says future expansion will be in line with new government rules

Company says it has no sense that it is under any regulatory scrutiny after Beijing imposed new restrictions on overseas investments

(L-R)Global Partner, Executive Director & Co-President and Chairman of Fosun Healthcare holdings, Chairman of Fosun Pharma of Fosun Chen Qiyu; Executive Director & Chairman Guo Guangchang and Executive Director & CEO Wang Qunbin attend Fosun International 2017 interim results at Conrad in Admiralty. 31AUG17 SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

Fosun chairman Guo Guangchang (left) and chief executive officer Wang Qunbin attend the results conference on Wednesday. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

China’s Fosun ups stake in Portugal’s largest listed bank

A pedestrian walks across a footbridge in front of the Fosun International Ltd. headquarters building in Shanghai, China. Photo: Bloomberg

(FILES) A file photo taken on June 15, 2010 shows the logo of Fosun Group is seen in front of the company's headquarters building in Shanghai. Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi announced on January 2, 2015 via his society Global Resorts that he renounces to outbid on the offer by Chinese conglomerate Fosun to buy French holiday group Club Med. Fosun bid 24.60 euros ($30.20) per share for Club Med, which values the iconic holiday brand at 939 million euros. AFP PHOTO/PHILIPPE LOPEZ

China’s Fosun to sell assets to raise credit rating above junk

Move marks reversal of US$15 billion in overseas acquisitions since 2010

A man stands outside the headquarters building of Fosun International in Beijing on July 29, 2016. The Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun plans to buy a majority stake in India's Gland Pharma Ltd. for as much as 1.26 billion USD, in what is being touted as the biggest Indian acquisition by a Chinese company. / AFP PHOTO / STR

Billionaire Liang Xinjun, chief executive officer of Fosun International Ltd., sits during a Bloomberg Television interview in Shanghai, China, on Sunday, July 24, 2016. Fosun Group, one of China's most acquisitive conglomerates, is preparing to sell as much as 40 billion yuan ($6 billion) in assets as it turns its focus towards raising its credit rating to above junk. Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

Construction workers walk past a building of the headquarters of Fosun International, in Shanghai, China. Photo: Reuters