Geong International to buy social media ad company

Chinese internet software firm, Geong International, has announced it is to buy Hong Kong online marketing company, Adbeyond.It will acquire the entire issued share capital in Adbeyond, which trades as Guru Online, for around HK$120m (£9.6 million).Adbeyond specialises in ad serving and social media marketing and has partnerships with over 200 digital media publishers, Geong said.The deal will be completed in two tranches, with 50% of the payment through the issue of 4m new ordinary shares and 50% in cash.The company said it had also entered into a non-binding deal with one of its major Chinese customers to raise a further US$8m (c.£5m) by way of an issuance of a two-year 7.5% convertible secured loan stock.Geong's chief executive, Weidong Wang, said the deal would "broaden the bandwidth of our offering in mainland China".The firm went on to say it was also exploring a potential listing of its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as part of its "continuous efforts to reflect the true value of the business".However, it added that no final decision had been made and there was "no certainty or assurance that a listing on the HKSE will take place".