Shares of hotel and flight booking site Asiatravel.com jumped by as much as 22% on news a takeover is imminent by Shenzhen-listed ZhongHong Holding.
Asiatravel issued a statement confirming the news, but said it is not a done deal yet.
"Certain substantial shareholders of the company have entered into a memorandum of understanding with ZhongHong in relation to ZhongHong’s intention to make a conditional general cash offer for all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares in the company," the statement said.
"There is no certainty that the proposed offer will be successful or will result in any transaction or definitive agreement," the company said in a filing to the Singapore stock exchange.
ZhongHong already has a 11.4% shareholding in Asiatravel and the offer to other major shareholders would boost this by an additional 51%.
The move comes just weeks after Singapore based Asiatravel announced its intention to expand into the China market.
The OTA lists about 200,000 hotels and fares from 500 airlines on its websites and has offices in several locations throughout Asia, the UAE and Germany.
