Opera Software has agreed a takeover offer worth USD 1.2 billion from a consortium of Chinese investments. The bidders are led by Golden Brick Silk Road Equity Investment Fund with the partners Beijing Kunlun Tech, Qihoo 360 Software and Yonglian (Yinchuan) Investment. The cash offer of NOK 71 per share is a 56 percent premium on Opera's average share price in the past 30 days and is the result of a strategic review started by the Norwegian company last August after it attracted takeover interest.
Opera's board has recommended the offer to shareholders, and a number of large shareholders and management holding in total 33 percent of shares have already agreed to accept the takeover offer. The company said the deal will help accelerate its expansion in emerging markets, including access to the customers of Kunlun and Qihoo in China. In addition, it will gain access to increased financing and other support from the consortium. At the same time, Kunlun and Qihoo will be able to cross-sell their products and services to the Opera user base, and benefit from Opera's mobile advertising platform.
The offer is expected to open in mid-March and is conditional on the consortium acquiring at least 90 percent of Opera's shares.
