(Yicai Global) Sept. 8 -- China's largest classifieds platform 58.Com is expecting to end its seven-year journey on the New York Stock Exchange in the second half of this year amid declining revenue growth.

The company's shareholders have agreed on a privatization agreement at the stockholder meeting, the Beijing-based firm said in a statement yesterday. The price is USD56 per each American depository share which values the company at USD8.7 billion. The deal should close by year-end.

On June 15, the second-hand goods, jobs, and housing listings platform said that a consortium of investors, including private equity firms Warburg Pincus Asia, General Atlantic Singapore Fund, Chief Executive Yao Jinbo, and Internet Opportunity Fund, would offer the above-mentioned price for all of its shares.

Founded in 2005, 58.Com makes most of its money from membership fees and online marketing services. But the company's revenue growth has been steadily declining over the past five years to about a 19 percent increase last year, down from the 30 percent rate logged in 2018.

By the end of the first quarter, Tencent Holdings was the largest shareholder of the platform with its 22.4 percent stake. The Shenzhen-based tech giant also had over 28 percent of the voting rights. Interestingly, Tencent wasn't part of the consortium of bidders.

Chairman and CEO Yao is 58.Com's second-largest stockholder with his 10.2 percent stake and 42 percent of the voting rights.

58.Com's stock price [NYSE: WUBA] rose 0.58 percent to USD55.85 yesterday. That is 38 percent less than its all-time high of USD89.90, recorded in May 2018. The firm went public in 2013, raising USD187 million while pricing its shares at USD17 apiece.

Editor: Emmi Laine