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The Lazard Asia Fund has ended months of speculation by announcing the sale of its controlling interest in Sing Tao Holdings only 20 months after it bought the stake in the 63-year-old newspaper publisher.

Tobacco tycoon Charles Ho Tsu-kwok was confirmed as the buyer yesterday in a deal which values the company - publisher of Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily and English-language iMail - at HK$692 million.

He will buy Lazard's 215.5 million shares for HK$355.6 million through his publicly listed investment vehicle Global China Technology Group, which he created from the former Perfect Treasure Holdings last July.

The deal values Sing Tao at HK$1.65 per share, a 20 per cent premium over the stock's last traded price on January 5.

Global China will then make a general offer to all Sing Tao shareholders at the same price, meaning the total cost of the purchase could reach HK$692 million. However, Sing Tao would remain a publicly listed company, Mr Ho said.

'The proposed acquisition is in line with our strategy to become a leading multimedia content provider for the global Chinese communities,' he said.

Lazard, which is believed to have been seeking a buyer since last summer, bought the stake in March 1999 for about HK$262 million from the publisher's then financially troubled chairman Sally Aw Sian.

Ms Aw was forced to sell control of the company established by her father to help repay a HK$247 million loan to Mr Ho's grandfather - the late former chairman of Hong Kong Tobacco Ho Ying-chie.

Under the terms of Ms Aw's sale, she is eligible to receive, as a special consultant, HK$9 million a year for six years.

Charles Ho, who personally owns 0.34 per cent of Sing Tao, was named honorary chairman of the publisher in the wake of Lazard's purchase in 1999.

He said yesterday that Sing Tao's non-core businesses - mostly properties and hotels overseas - would be sold off to concentrate on multimedia and publishing.

'There are bits and pieces here and there that will be sold off, such as the hotel business in Toronto, Canada,' he said.

He said Global China, which had a market capitalisation last Friday of HK$670 million, would use internal resources to pay for the acquisition.

'The company has more than HK$700 million in cash on hand. The acquisition will not become a financial burden,' he said.

Mr Ho said there were no plans to lay off any Sing Tao employees to cut costs.

'After Lazard took over, a lot of improvements were made and the company is generally well-run now,' he said.

He also said iMail  would be kept as a going concern.

'There is still room for an English language newspaper to develop in Hong Kong,' he said. 'IMail  will continue publication.

'After it changed its name to iMail from  Hong Kong Standard, the newspaper made a lot of improvements and its circulation has improved,' Mr Ho said.

He said that for decades, Sing Tao had been a synonym for quality and a trustworthy source of information. 'It has strong brand recognition, a massive information database and a solid financial position, with cash flows that would help the company as it entered new fields such as digital media,' he added.



Lazard confirms sale of Sing Tao for $355m