Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telecom Australia, said that Soufun.com, an online real estate information provider in China in which TA holds a 51% of the stake, will do an initial public offering in middle of this year.
Trujillo disclosed that Soufun.com achieved a total business revenue of AU$43 million in 2007, an increase of 79.2% over that of the previous year.
In 2006, Telstra acquired the 51% of the stake of Soufun.com for US$254 million. In November last year, Mo Tianquan, founder and executive officer of Soufun.com, told Chinese media about the company's plan of getting listed in Hong Kong.
Founded in 1999, Soufun.com has received venture capital from IDG, Goldman Sachs Group, Trader Classified Media and Telstra, respectively. At present, Telstra is the biggest shareholder of Soufun.com. It is still unclear on which market the company will list, but rumors from China technology insiders point to a Hong Kong listing.
