Chinese video games publisher Yoozoo has denied media reports that state it is in final talks with Sina Corp to sell at least 18% of its shares, and that Sina had already paid a deposit as part of the deal.
Yoozoo is listed in Shenzhen. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of inquiry on Monday, seeking clarifications about the reported share sale by the company to Sina. Yoozoo responded by saying the reports were false, without providing further information.
However, in a stock exchange filing submitted in June, Yoozoo said its chairwoman, Xu Fenfen, was considering selling equity and “had made relatively substantial progress.”
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That month, Reuters reported that a consortium led by Sina was in late-stage discussions with Yoozoo to acquire 18% of the company, citing two anonymous sources. That news resurfaced this week when Chinese media outlets reported that Xu had accepted a deposit from Sina on behalf of Yoozoo.
An 18% stake in Yoozoo is worth RMB 2.1 billion (USD 328 million), based on the company’s market cap of RMB 11.8 billion on Thursday.
Xu took over the Shanghai-based video game company after its founder and chairman Lin Qi died in December. Lin’s death was allegedly due to being poisoned by a colleague. He held a 24% stake in the company at the time.
Yoozoo may hold appeal for potential stakeholders because of its copyright portfolio. Founded in 2009, Yoozoo is best known for producing the League of Angels video game series and Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming. It also has the worldwide rights for adaptations of the award-winning sci-fi trilogy “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” by Liu Cixin. The series is best known for its first novel, The Three-Body Problem.