Autohome plans expansion alongside delisting from New York
China’s top car-selling website company is looking to grow in e-commerce, CEO Qin said.
Autohome, China’s leading automobile website operator, plans to expand its presence in e-commerce, CEO Qin Zhi told the South China Morning Post in an interview.
He recently offered to buy out the New York-listed company with funding from three private equity firms.
The company will expand its auto e-commerce business with the ambition of becoming the largest internet-based auto transaction platform in the next three years, Qin said. Online transactions could account for 20 per cent of total auto sales in the next three to five years from just about 1 per cent last year, he said.
“Everything is changing, so we need to restructure our business in order to embrace challenges,” Qin said. This is also one of the reasons behind the buyout offer, he said.
“The privatisation will give us flexibility to do things and aim towards a long-term objective,” Qin said. He spoke to media for the first time after the buyout offer was made.
Qin led a consortium, which includes investment firms Boyu Capital, Sequoia China and Hillhouse Capital, to make a non-binding buyout offer of US$31.50 (HK$244) per Autohome’s American depository receipt last month. The offer values Autohome at US$3.57 billion.
It was seen as a rival bid because it came just hours after Australian phone company Telstra announced on April 15 that it had agreed to sell its 47.7 per cent stake in Autohome to Chinese Insurer Ping An’s trust unit for US$1.6 billion, or US$29.55 per share.