SEEK Limited increases investment in Zhaopin

SEEK Limited today announced that it will increase its investment in Zhaopin Limited, a leading employment website in China.

SEEK acquired an initial 25% interest in Zhaopin in September 2006, representing SEEKís first investment in an internet employment site outside Australia and New Zealand. Since this time, Zhaopin has dramatically improved its competitive position with many key metrics growing by approximately 100% in the past 12 months.

SEEK will invest a further US$45m to increase its shareholding to 42.9% on a fully diluted basis, taking into account both issued and authorised options. The transaction involves a fresh capital raising and a simultaneous buy-back of early stage venture capital investors.

SEEK will utilise existing debt facilities to fund this investment and, in conjunction with anticipated losses for Zhaopin in the current financial year, this investment will be earnings per share dilutive for SEEK in FY09. SEEK expects the investment to be strongly earnings per share accretive in the longer term as the Chinese internet employment market continues to increase in scale. SEEK will continue to account for its interest in Zhaopin as an associate as it will not be exercising control of the company.

Macquarie Capital (Macquarie) will also become a shareholder in Zhaopin, investing alongside SEEK to hold 29.1% on a fully diluted basis, taking into account both issued and authorised options.

According to Paul Bassat, SEEK Co-Founder and Joint CEO:

ìWe are very excited to have the opportunity to increase our investment in Zhaopin. Since our initial investment in 2006 Zhaopinís strong management team has made tremendous progress across all metrics we consider critical to long term success in the online classifieds space.

ìWe are also pleased to welcome Macquarie Capital as a shareholder in Zhaopin. We have had a long standing relationship with Macquarie, as they were an early stage investor in SEEK.î Mr Bassat said.

SEEKís Director of Corporate Strategy, Jason Lenga said ìThe online employment classifieds market in China is still relatively immature and we anticipate that the very substantial growth in recent years will continue in the long term.

ìZhaopin has significantly improved its competitive position in the past two years. This investment combined with an outstanding management team and clear strategy positions Zhaopin well for long term sustained profitability. We do not anticipate that Zhaopin will raise any further capital prior to reaching breakeven,î he said.

Zhaopinís CEO, Hao Liu said

ìThe investment by SEEK and Macquarie Capital will assist us as we work towards reaching our growth targets over the next few years. SEEK and Macquarie have a strong history of successfully working together. We believe this will help assist us to become an even more formidable player in our marketplace.î

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