‘Consolidation favours the strong’: Chinese group including Qihoo 360 subsidiary spending US$1.2bln on Norwegian browser company Opera Software

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Qihoo 360 Software, a subsidiary of Qihoo 360, and Beijing Kunlun Tech are part of the Chinese consortium preparing to take over Norway’s Opera Software. This represents a bold new push from China’s tech sector outside of the nation’s three so-called ‘internet giants’. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 7:28pm, 10 Feb 2016Updated: 7:43pm, 10 Feb 2016

A Chinese consortium led by internet companies Beijing Kunlun Tech and Qihoo 360 Software has agreed to take over Norwegian browser company Opera Software in a cash transaction valued at US$1.2 billion.

It likely marks the first large-scale merger and acquisition deal made this year by Chinese internet companies not backed by one of the “big three” mainland players - Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, collectively known under the acronym BAT.

The proposed acquisition of Opera, which counts more than 350 million users of its desktop and mobile browser worldwide, is supported by two Chinese funds - Golden Brick Silk Road (Shenzhen) Equity Investment, and Yonglian (Yinchuan) Investment.

Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo but has offices in China, Japan and South Korea. Photo: Handout

Zhou Yahui, the chairman and chief executive of Kunlun, said the combination of Opera’s business with those of his company and Qihoo 360 Software would “solidify our leadership position in the international internet space”.

READ MORE: US Securities and Exchange Commission drops insider-trading case against Luo Haijian over Qihoo 360 shares

Kunlun is a leading mobile games developer and publisher, with growing operations in app distribution and peer-to-peer lending. This Shenzhen-listed company made a big splash last month when it bought a 60 per cent stake in US-based Grindr, operator of a popular dating and social networking app for gay men.