TELSTRA Corp. and a Ping An Insurance Group Co. unit said their agreement over the sale of a US$1.6 billion stake in China’s Autohome Inc. is binding, indicating the transaction will go ahead despite the emergence of a higher management buyout proposal.

    Ping An Trust & Investment Co., which agreed to buy a 48 percent stake in Autohome from Melbourne-based Telstra, has signed a binding accord with the Australian company, Ping An Trust said in a statement Tuesday.

    Nicole McKechnie, a Telstra spokeswoman, confirmed the deal was binding.

    Within hours of Telstra disclosing its deal last week, a group led by Autohome chief executive officer James Qin announced an offer for the Chinese car website operator, raising the prospects of a rare bidding contest in China.

    The US$31.50-a-share offer made by Qin’s group, which includes Boyu Capital Advisory Co., Hillhouse TBC Holdings LP and Sequoia China Investment Management LLP, was 6.6 percent higher than Ping An’s per-share agreement, though it was non-binding.

    The Ping An deal is subject to approval from Chinese regulators and Autohome’s 10-member board, half of which are current and former Telstra executives. Qin also sits on the board.

    Autohome, whose services include car-price comparisons and links to dealers in the world’s largest auto market, said Monday that it was reviewing the management buyout offer from the Qin-led group.

    (SD-Agencies)