51job and Japan’s Recruit to form coupon advertising company in China
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – China’s 51job Inc, a Nasdaq-listed provider of human resource services, and Recruit Co Ltd, an information services company in Japan, said in a joint statement that they have signed an agreement to establish a new company to provide coupon advertising services in China.
The company will be independently incorporated and is expected to have a total capitalization of up to 82 mln yuan provided over several years.
Recruit is expected to provide 60 pct of the funding in cash, up to 49.2 mln yuan, and the remaining 40 pct will be financed through convertible bonds of up to 32.8 mln yuan to 51job (nasdaq: JOBS – news – people ).
The zero coupon convertible bonds will include conversion rights for 40 pct of the share capital of the new company.
In April 2006, 51job and Recruit entered into a business alliance to form a corporate planning group to assess opportunities in the human resources industry and other new businesses in China.
51job operates 23 editions of 51job Weekly and distributes several mln copies each week throughout China.
Recruit, a printer and distributor of free coupon magazines, publishes Hot Pepper, which was launched in 2001 and has expanded to 49 area-specific editions in Japan.
(1 usd = 7.56 yuan)