Alibaba plans to take AutoNavi private

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 U.S. dollars. 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. 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. 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. 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. Alibaba grossed 4.9 billion dollars in revenue during the first nine months last year, according to financial results disclosed by Yahoo.