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General Atlantic invests in Chinese real estate internet portal

Growth equity firm General Atlantic has agreed to invest USD163m to acquire a 19 per cent stake in SouFun Holdings at its IPO price from Telstra, the selling shareholder.

GA will be partnering with Apax Partners, which will invest an equal amount on the same terms.

SouFun is the largest online real estate portal in China and became an NYSE-listed company on 17 September.

Jeff Leng, managing director at General Atlantic, will be joining SouFun’s board of directors.
 
Vincent Mo, founder and chairman of SouFun, says: “We are very happy that SouFun has become a NYSE-listed company and has received investments from General Atlantic and Apax Partners, two of the world’s leading private equity funds. Both GA and Apax are experienced investors in the online space. Their expertise and network will contribute to the continued success of SouFun as China’s leading pure-play online real estate portal. The management is deeply committed to delivering strong shareholder value to all shareholders.”
 
GA has been an active investor in China since 2000, with investments in several companies including Alibaba Group, Oak Pacific Interactive, ZhongSheng Group, Wuxi Apptech and Lenovo.
 
Jeff Leng, managing director and head of China operations at General Atlantic, says: “We have been very impressed with the leadership of Vincent, the strength of SouFun’s team and Soufun’s dominant market position. The company has a clear competitive advantage in online real estate advertising and listing market. The opportunities for continued growth and expansion are tremendous. Expanding the existing network of cities, leveraging their user base for additional product/service offerings and enhancing their technology to continue to scale are just few of the exciting new opportunities ahead. We look forward to a strong and productive partnership.”

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