China's entertainment firm Beijing Enlight Media Co transferred its 27.64 percent stake in TV content and film producer New Classics Media to Tencent affiliate Linzhi Tencent Technology Co Ltd at a price of 3.3 billion yuan, the company announced Sunday, according to a report by finance.sina.com.cn.
Enlight Media, listed on China's ChiNext Board, a Nasdaq-style index tailored for growth enterprises, had been New Classics Media's second-largest shareholders since it paid 829 million yuan to acquire a stake of 27.64 percent of the company in 2013.
Through this transaction, all of Enlight Media's equity in New Classics Media was transferred to Linzhi Tencent, which made Linzhi Tencent one of the company's largest shareholders, second only to Cao Yihua, founder of the company.
New Classics Media, established in 2007 with a register capital of 165 million yuan, has produced many high-profile Chinese TV series and blockbuster movies, such as The First Half of My Life, WuKong, Monk Comes Down the Mountain, Hot Mon, and Tiger Mom.
Last year, the Chinese comedy Never Say Die it co-produced won great box office success by bringing in an impressive 2.2 billion yuan.
With total assets of 4.16 billion yuan and net assets of 1.25 billion yuan as of Dec 31, it posted a robust full-year revenue of 1.67 billion yuan and a net profit of 349 million yuan last year, achieving a growth of more than 100 percent in revenue and net profit from 2016.
Though it planned for an initial public offering in 2012, New Classics Media has not yet been listed in China's A-share market. At the end of June last year, it applied for an IPO for the third time, after withdrawing its IPO application for a second time last May.
According to a report by National Business Daily, Cao said the company may not consider applying for an IPO in the future.
