Sally Aw sells Sing Tao stake to meet debts

Six decades of publishing history came to an abrupt end yesterday after newspaper proprietor Sally Aw Sian sold her entire stake in Sing Tao Holdings to an investment bank to pay off debts of $270 million.

Sing Tao - founded by the Aw family in 1938 - owns the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily News and English-language Hong Kong Standard.

Lazard Asia paid Ms Aw $262.5 million, or $1.25 a share, for her stake and will launch a general offer for the rest of Sing Tao's shares - valuing the group at $524.5 million .

The deal will see Ms Aw removed as chairman although she will remain as a consultant to the group. She will receive $9 million a year in consultancy fees for six years.

The agreement saves Ms Aw from imminent bankruptcy, with Hong Kong Tobacco chief Ho Ying-chie expected to withdraw his bankruptcy petition once the deal is completed. He is claiming Ms Aw owes him $270 million in unpaid loans. Ms Aw accepted Lazard's offer just hours before the bankruptcy hearing was due to begin.

She shunned the bank's offer last December and instead reached a deal with the Dublin-listed China Enterprise Development Fund (CEDF).