Eversheds has advised China Merchants Bank (Hong Kong), on the acquisition financing for the merger takeover and privatisation of ChinaEdu Corporation, a company listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

ChinaEdu Corporation is a leading online educational services provider, and one of the largest service providers for online degree programs in China.

As part of the privatisation, ChinaEdu Corporation was acquired at US$2.33 per ordinary share or US$7.00 per American Depositary Share (ADS). This represented a 19.9% premium over the closing price of US$5.84 per ADS quoted by NASDAQ on 19 June 2013 (CEDU’s last trading day prior to the privatisation announcement).

ChinaEdu Corporation’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the merger takeover proposal on 18 April 2014. China Merchants Bank’s funding enabled the successful completion of the merger takeover on 23 April 2014.

The Eversheds team was led by Partner Kingsley Ong, assisted by associates Sandy Yeung and Gloria Chen.

Kingsley Ong commented:

“We congratulate ChinaEdu Corporation and China Merchants Bank on this successful acquisition financing transaction."