Investing.com - CITIC Group, the parent company of the Hong Kong-listed CITIC Ltd (HK:0267), is currently in talks with China Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to purchase a portfolio that includes luxury hotels, a football club, a brewery and a broadcaster in Czech Republic for $980 million, according to the South China Morning Post.
The purchase price represented a 44% discount of the combined $1.75 billion valuation in May, according to the report which cited two people familiar with the offer.
As the largest Chinese investor in Czech Republic, CEFC has made several debt-backed investments in the last few years. Via its subsidiary CEFC Europe, the company owns Travel Service, an airline that owns the flag carrier Czech Airlines; brewery group Lobkowicz; machinery firm Zdas; soccer club Slavia Prague and other properties. The Czech government has already given a takeover deal the green light, the report noted.
In August, Beijing started a probe of CEFC China’s subsidiary CEFC Auhui International Holding for making false statements in its 2017 annual report.
In Hong Kong, CITIC was trading flat for the day at the lunch break at HK$11.16 per share.