BEIJING, Nov. 23, 2015 Tuniu Corporation (Nasdaq:TOUR), a leading online leisure travel company in China, and HNA Tourism Group, one of three strategic industrial conglomerates of HNA Group, today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership. As part of the partnership, HNA Tourism is expected to invest US$500 million in Tuniu through the acquisition of Tuniu’s newly issued Class A ordinary shares.
The purchase price for the transaction will be US$5.50 per Class A ordinary share, or the equivalent of US$16.50 per American Depositary Share. This purchase price represents an approximate 11.3% premium over the average closing trading price of Tuniu's ADSs for the 20 trading days prior to the announcement, and an approximate 5.0% premium over the closing trading price of Tuniu’s ADS on November 20, 2015. Immediately following the completion of the transaction, HNA Tourism is expected to hold approximately 24.1% of Tuniu’s total outstanding shares and become Tuniu’s largest shareholder.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in December 2015.
As part of this strategic partnership, HNA Tourism and Tuniu have entered into a strategic procurement agreement, pursuant to which HNA Tourism will provide Tuniu with access to its premium airlines and hotels resources at a preferential rate, under fair competitive market rules. Under the strategic procurement agreement, Tuniu is expected to acquire no less than US$100 million in products and services sourced from HNA Tourism over the next two years.
Tuniu’s co-founder, Chairman and CEO Donald Yu said, “We welcome HNA Tourism as our strategic shareholder and are excited about the potential presented by this strategic business cooperation. HNA Tourism is a leading tourism company in China with a rich collection of travel-related resources throughout the supply chain. As Tuniu continues to increase its direct procurement, HNA Tourism’s airlines resources will significantly enhance our ability to connect our network of departure cities to our constantly growing portfolio of destination offerings. Going forward, we look forward to closely working with HNA Tourism to ensure that we continue to provide our customers with the best leisure travel experiences.”
Zhang Ling, Member of the Board of Directors of HNA Group and Chairman of HNA Tourism said, “We are also very excited about the formation of a stronger strategic alliance with Tuniu through this opportunity. Tuniu is a leading online leisure travel company in China with a broad customer base and well-established brand. We look forward to collaborating with Tuniu in order to bring more of our products to leisure travelers throughout China. At the same time, we will fully support Tuniu as it continues to expand its market share in the leisure travel market in China.”
