China Index Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:CIH), ("CIH" or the "Company"), a leading real estate information and analytics service platform provider in China, today announced that its board of directors (the "Board") has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter (the "Proposal Letter"), dated August 23, 2022, from Fang Holdings Limited (OTC:SFUNY) ("Fang" or the "Proposing Buyer"), proposing to acquire all outstanding Class A ordinary shares (the "Class A Shares") and Class B ordinary shares (the "Class B Shares") (collectively, the "Shares") of the Company, including Class A Shares represented by American depositary shares (the "ADSs", each representing one Class A ordinary share), that are not currently owned by the Proposing Buyer in a "going-private" transaction. The consideration payable for each Share and each ADS to be acquired will be US$0.84. According to the Proposal Letter, the US$0.84 per Share/ADS price represents a premium of 20.0% to the closing price of the ADSs on August 22, 2022 and a premium of 22.8% to the volume-weighted average closing price of the ADSs during the last 30 trading days up to August 22, 2022. Fang currently owns approximately 10.1% of all the issued and outstanding Class A Shares and approximately 47.0% of all the issued and outstanding Class B Shares, which represent approximately 38.9% of the aggregate voting power of the Company.
According to the Proposal Letter, the Proposing Buyer intends to finance the proposed acquisition with cash on hand. A copy of the Proposal Letter is attached hereto as Annex A.
The Board intends to form a special committee of independent and disinterest directors to consider the proposed transaction and make a recommendation to the Board. The Board expects that the special committee will retain independent legal and financial advisors to assist in its review of the proposed transaction.
The Board cautions the Company's shareholders and others considering trading the Company's securities that the Board has just received the Proposal Letter and has not had an opportunity to carefully review and evaluate the proposal or make any decision with respect to the Company's response to the proposal. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.