Baihe finds perfect match in match-making website merger

Jiayuan.com turns its stand into a traditional bridal chamber of China at the country's 2013 Internet Forum in Beijing on Aug 14, 2014. [Photo/IC]

China's two leading match-making websites jiayuan.com and baihe.com announced a merger late Monday.

LoveWorld, a subsidiary of Baihe will buy Jiayuan for $7.56 per American depository share (ADS), a total value of $252 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016. Jiayuan executive Wu Linguang will become co-executive of the new company which will undergo a name-change.

Jiayuan.com International, the largest online dating platform in China, said that after the acquisition, the company will pull out of the US Nasdaq market and become a private company.

Jiayuan received a buyout offer in March due to poor share performances. Baihe already quit listing overseas before listing on China's New Third Board on Nov 20.

It is the first time that a domestic company listed on the New Third Board is acquiring a Chinese company that has received a buyout offer. 

The acquisition price is a 62.9 percent premium on March 2 (the day before the first buyout offer emerged) ADS closing price.

Jiayuan received a privatization offer from Vast Profit Holdings on March 3 that proposed to fully acquire its outstanding ordinary shares. The offered price was revised to $7.20 per ADS from preliminary $5.37 per ADS.

Shares of Jiayuan closed at $7.34, up 4.8 percent on Monday.