(Yicai Global) Sept. 18 -- 51job's shares soared in New York after the Chinese human resources company received a USD5.3 billion buyout offer from DCP Capital Partners.

51job's stock price [NASDAQ: JOBS] climbed 16.6 percent yesterday to USD79.42. The shares are still down 6.5 percent this year.

DCP Capital has offered USD79.05 a share in cash and debt financing, Shanghai-based 51job said in a statement yesterday. The company's board of directors cautioned investors that they have not carefully reviewed or evaluated the proposal, nor made any decision with respect to the firm's reply to it.

51job had second-quarter net income of CNY376.7 million (USD55.7 million) on a 14 percent decline in revenue to CNY828.6 million, its earnings report showed last month.

At that time, co-founder and Chief Executive Rick Yan said: "While economic recovery is underway in China and we have seen steady improvement in labor market activity since March, hiring tends to be a lagging indicator, and companies remain careful and selective in adding headcount amid lingering uncertainty."

For this quarter, the company expects net income in the range of CNY820 million and CNY870 million based on the current market and operating conditions.

51job runs a jobs search website and provides a broad range of services in employee recruitment, training and assessment as well as other HR tools and outsourcing services.

Japanese HR firm Recruit Holdings is 51job's largest shareholder with a 35 percent stake. Rick Yan, 51job’s co-founder and chief executive, is second with 19.2 percent. Massachusetts Financial Services is third with 5.4 percent.
 

Editor: Ben Armour