51job.com agrees to US$5.7 billion privatisation deal, latest US-listed Chinese firm to go private

About 20 US-listed Chinese firms have agreed to take-private deals since beginning of last year, according to Refinitiv

Take-private transactions come against backdrop of greater US scrutiny of Chinese firms

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Chinese human resources and job search provider 51job.com has agreed to be taken private in a deal that values it at about US$5.7 billion. Photo: SCMP

Published: 8:00pm, 22 Jun 2021Updated: 7:50am, 23 Jun 2021

Chinese human resources and job search provider 51job.com has agreed to be taken private in a deal that valued it at about US$5.7 billion, making it the latest US-listed Chinese firm to dump the public markets in favour of private ownership.

The transaction followed a nine-month engagement with Beijing private-equity firm DCP Capital, which was first revealed in September. The company, which went public in the US in 2004, formed a special committee of independent directors to consider the proposal and other strategic alternatives at the time.

In May, 51job.com said it received an updated takeover proposal from a consortium that included DCP and buyout firm Ocean Link Partners, as well as its CEO Rick Yan. Its largest shareholder, Recruit Holdings, has since joined the consortium.

The take-private transaction came after the job search website saw its share price decline by more than half from its all-time closing high of US$113.06 in June 2018 to a two-year low in March of last year before rebounding somewhat. The company’s shares jumped nearly 25 per cent since it announced the updated privatisation proposal in May.

Offered to investors at US$79.05 in cash per American depositary share, the deal represents a 28.89 per cent premium to its closing price on May 3, the day it announced it had received an updated, non-binding proposal to go private. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

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