Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced on Monday that it had offered to acquire digital mapping and navigation firm AutoNavi for 1.1 billion USD.
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Alibaba currently holds a 28-percent stake in AutoNavi after it invested 294 million dollars in May last year, making it the single largest shareholder of the NASDAQ-listed mapping service provider.
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The proposed deal to buy AutoNavi for 21 dollars per American Depository Share (ADS) would make it a fully-owned subsidiary of Alibaba and take the company private. AutoNavi's map and navigation services are currently incorporated into Alibaba's online retail platforms.
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Shares of AutoNavi rose 26.96 percent to 20.99 dollars per ADS in Monday morning trading at the NASDAQ. The company's current market capitalization stands at 974.23 million dollars.
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Alibaba, which runs China's most popular online-retail marketplaces Taobao.com and Tmall.com, is currently seeking to list its shares in Hong Kong, a move that it is estimated will raise 100 billion U.S. dollars. Yahoo holds a 24-percent stake in the company.
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Alibaba grossed 4.9 billion USD in revenue during the first nine months last year, according to financial results disclosed by Yahoo.Â