Aisidi (SZ:002416) announced yesterday it had reached agreement with mAPPn, which runs Gfan.com and its mobile apps, to acquire up to 100% of stake in the latter.
Aisidi will at first acquire a combined 54.12% stake owned by all other shareholders excluding Tan Yi, CEO of Gfan. Then the company would acquire 30% of shares owned by Tan Yi if Gfan recorded more than 18 million yuan in net profit by the end of this year. If Gfan recorded 50% of the net profits Tan Yi promised, Aisidi would acquire the rest of it. Tan promised to realize annual growth in net profit of 100%, 30% and 30% in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.
It looks like a deal for former investors to exit but a tough one for Mr. Tan. Gfan raised $5 million in Series A funding in 2010, planning to become the first app store to go IPO in 2013 or 2014.
Gfan was one of the earliest in China that offered news on Android and Android app downloads. But it was caught up by other Android app distributors before long. Currently the major players in the sector include 360 Mobile Assistant, Wandoujia, Baidu’s 91 and AppChina.
According to the Aisidi statement, mAPPn made 35.87 million yuan ($5.8 mn) with 7.8 million yuan ($1.3mn) in profit in the first seven months of this year. A majority of Gfan’s revenues and profits are generated from advertising.
Gfan started developing mobile games from early this year. It is reported that it has finished four titles.
Shenzhen-based Aisidi is a consumer electronics distributor that is working with smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, Sony and so on. It went public in Shenzhen Exchange in 2010.
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