What’s new: The New York-based private equity giant Blackstone Group Inc. has officially ended its bid to purchase office developer Soho China Ltd., according to a joint exchange filing by the two companies on Friday.
The two property giants attributed the outcome to “the lack of sufficient progress in satisfying the pre-conditions,” with both concluding that the pre-conditions won’t be satisfied on or before the deadline and they won’t be asking for an extension of the deadline, according to the announcement.
They didn’t offer further details.
Background: Blackstone made an offer to take over the Hong Kong-listed office developer for HK$23.7 billion ($3.05 billion) in June, which was considered its biggest bet on the real estate market in Asia’s largest economy.
Back in 2019, Soho said it planned to exit the mainland commercial property market and has been actively looking for buyers to take over its buildings in Beijing and Shanghai.
China’s State Administration of Market Regulation started to review the offer (link in Chinese) in August and Soho disclosed on Aug. 6 that they had submitted the relevant documents and materials to the antitrust watchdog.
Contact reporter Manyun Zou (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com)
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