Reuters exclusively reported, citing sources, that private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group was in talks to take Hong Kong-listed Chinese property developer SOHO China Ltd private in a deal that could be worth more than $2 billion, accentuating a trend in Hong Kong. Hong Kong-listed companies have announced take-private deals worth $20 billion so far in 2020, more than double last year’s annual volume, according to Refinitiv data. Undervalued shares were often cited as a reason for such deals. But with so much cash available with private equity and other long term investors and a dearth of avenues to earn decent returns, average premiums paid by buyers for those deals jumped to 42% this year from 34% in 2018.
