Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN) dropped to the lowest level in six weeks in New York on speculation a $3.5 billion buyout offer by a group of private equity firms including Carlyle Group LP (CG) won’t be completed.

American depositary receipts of Focus Media sank 3.6 percent to $22.91 at the close of trading in New York, the lowest closing level since Aug. 9. The advertising company’s board received a “going private” proposal on Aug. 13 at $27 per share from Chief Executive Officer Jason Nanchun Jiang, Washington-based Carlyle and Hong Kong-based FountainVest.

Shares of Shanghai-based Focus Media have fallen 10 percent since the bid was proposed. The acquisition would mark China’s largest leveraged buyout.

“Investors appear to be saying that they’re not going to wait around for this deal to close,” David Riedel, president of Riedel Research Group Inc., said in a phone interview from San Francisco. “There’s limited upside from here so the thinking is, investors can get better returns employing their money elsewhere. This is dead money until the deal is completed.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Leon Lazaroff in New York llazaroff@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma O’Brien at Eobrien6@bloomberg.net