By Max Mason From AFR Week

The $2.1 billion sale of most of Telstra’s majority stake in Autohome to insurer Ping An has gone ahead, despite a Cayman Islands court injunction attempting to block the deal until a hearing.

Documents obtained by AFR Weekend reveal the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands issued an order that Autohome be stopped from, or take steps towards, transferring shares registered in Telstra’s name before a hearing on Friday June 24.

On Thursday morning, Telstra announced that it had completed the sale of most of its majority stake in Autohome to Chinese insurance business Ping An for $US1.6 billion ($2.1 billion), a deal which was first announced back in April.

The problem is that a management consortium, led by Autohome chief executive James Qin and backed by private equity firms Boyu Capital, Sequoia China and investment management firm Hillhouse Capital, want to buy the company for themselves.

Justice McMillan issued the order after reading documents from Mr Qin, who is also part a court action with minority shareholders, and an associate at Cayman Islands legal firm Harneys.

“It is ordered that … the Respondent be restrained from registering or taking any steps to cause to be registered any transfer of any shares in the Respondent registered in the name of Telstra Holdings Pty Limited until the inter parties hearing of the Summons on Friday, 24 June 2016 or the next first available date as the Court may direct.”

The court order, which was issued on June 20, names Autohome as the respondent, not Telstra. However, Telstra did hold six of 11 seats on Autohome’s board of directors.

“Telstra has completed the sale and there has been no breach of the injunction,” a Telstra spokesperson said.

The completion of the sale means Telstra will now only have one board nominee rather than six.

Sources said that there independent directors and Autohome aligned directors were not made aware of the changes to the board until June 22.

The AFR Weekend previously revealed Telstra is facing allegations of misconduct over its sale of its Autohome stake by a group of minority shareholders, including Mr Qin, in the Cayman Islands.

The minority shareholders, with a total stake of 10.8 per cent, have attempted to halt Telstra’s sale of a 47.7 per cent stake in Autohome to Ping An to give independent and management board members time to conduct a review of the transaction and related documents, according to a court petition.

The court petition gives a detailed account of the minority shareholders’ version of events, the concerns of Autohome’s independent and management directors, and alleges misconduct by Telstra and the directors it had on Autohome’s board.

IMAGE: The Autohome case was scheduled to be heard in the Cayman Islands on Friday.

For more on this story go to: http://www.afr.com/business/telecommunications/cayman-islands-injunction-on-autohome-fails-to-halt-21b-telstra-sale-20160623-gpqf5q#ixzz4Cazwhv3n

See related iNews Cayman stories:

Published May 29 2016 “Telstra faces misconduct allegations over $2.1 billion Autohome sale” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/telstra-faces-misconduct-allegations-over-2-1-billion-autohome-sale/
Published May 25 2016 “Telstra’s Autohome sale faces Cayman Islands court action” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/telstras-autohome-sale-faces-cayman-islands-court-action/
Published April 24 2016 “A shareholder-unfriendly buyout at Autohome [Will Cayman Islands throw it out?]” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/a-shareholder-unfriendly-buyout-at-autohome-will-cayman-islands-throw-it-out/