Alibaba and Intime founder offer to take mall operator private for $2.55 billion

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Intime Retail (Group) Co Ltd <1833.HK> said on Tuesday its founder and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd had offered to take the department store operator private for HK$19.79 billion ($2.55 billion), as low liquidity in trading of the stock was not sufficient to help the company grow.

Alibaba's unit, Alibaba Investment Ltd, and Shen Guo Jun jointly offered to take Intime private at HK$10 per share, representing a 42.25 percent premium over its last trading price of HK$7.03 each, prior to a trading suspension on Dec. 28. Trading in the company's shares will resume on Tuesday.

Alibaba currently holds 27.82 percent of Intime while Shen owns 9.17 percent.

 

($1 = 7.7561 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Michael Perry)