Investment in ByteDance Ltd

Shaires Holdings Ltd, the publicly quoted London investment company focused on providing investors with exposure to leading private technology and AI businesses, announces that it has made a US$15.0 million investment providing an indirect equity investment in ByteDance Ltd ("ByteDance"). ByteDance is the global technology group behind TikTok, Douyin and Doubao. The investment will represent an indirect interest of approximately 0.003% in the equity of ByteDance and is made through a dedicated share class of a regulated Luxembourg fund, which is acquiring ByteDance Series B Preferred Shares in a company-approved secondary sale from an existing shareholder.

Highlights

• US$15.0 million for an indirect interest in ByteDance Series B Preferred Shares.
• Entry valuation of US$585 billion (an equivalent price of US$355.5 per share); an all-in valuation equivalent of approximately US$620 billion including a 6% upfront fee, with no management fee and no carried interest; total cash outlay of approximately US$15.9 million.
• Held via a newly established, dedicated, ring-fenced share class within a regulated Luxembourg SICAV-RAIF structure with independent custody and administration. The sole asset of the Luxembourg vehicle will be its interest in ByteDance Series B Preferred Shares.
• Consistent with the Company's investing policy; funded from the Company's existing cash resources and proceeds from the recently concluded institutional placing.
• Completion expected within the next two weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.
• An overview video of the Company with CEO Vivek Seth is available on-demand at: https://shaires-holdings.com/?preview=cav81dllxremeq.

About ByteDance

ByteDance is one of the world's largest privately held technology companies and a leader in AI-native media, advertising and e-commerce, with franchises including Douyin, TikTok and the Doubao AI assistant. In addition ByteDance has made considerable investments into artificial intelligence models including the leading video model Seedance. ByteDance is a private company and does not publish audited financial statements; figures in this announcement are unaudited third-party estimates.

It is not possible to provide the profit or loss figure for ByteDance as it does not publish financial statements and accordingly, no profit or loss figure attributable to ByteDance is available for disclosure. It is a privately-held company and therefore has no legal requirement to issue financial statements.

Principal risks

The investment carries China-US geopolitical and regulatory risk; ByteDance is private and illiquid with no announced IPO timeline, so realisation depends on negotiated secondary transactions; and financial information is estimated and unaudited. The value of the investment may fall as well as rise.

Board and Management comments

Suhail Rizvi, Executive Chairman of Shaires, said:

"ByteDance is one of a small number of private companies that has genuinely reshaped how the world consumes media, advertising and commerce, and it is now bringing that same scale to artificial intelligence. For public-market investors it has been effectively unreachable, we are therefore very pleased to have been able to secure this investment through a company-approved secondary transaction.

"This is precisely the kind of position Shaires was built to hold: a category-defining company, bought at what we consider an exciting entry point, and held for the long term."

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