奇虎360再掀中企美國退市潮

Qihoo 360 is poised to become the largest Chinese company to delist from the US after receiving a $9bn management-led buyout offer.

在收到90億美元的管理層收購要約之後，奇虎360(Qihoo 360)或將成爲從美國退市的最大中國企業。

The internet services group said after the close of US markets on Wednesday that it had received a “preliminary non-binding proposal” from a group led by Zhou Hongyi, Qihoo chairman and chief executive. The prospective buyers also include Citic Securities and Sequoia Capital China.

在美國股市週三閉市之後，這家互聯網服務集團表示已收到一份“初步非約束性私有化要約”。這一私有化要約來自一個以奇虎360董事長兼首席執行官周鴻禕爲首的團隊，潛在買家還包括中信證券(Citic Securities)和紅杉中國(Sequoia Capital China)。

The $77 per share offer equates to a 16.6 per cent premium over Qihoo’s closing price on Tuesday, and a 32.7 per cent premium over the average over the past month.

該私有化要約中提出的開價爲每股77美元，相對奇虎360週二的收盤價有16.6%的溢價，相對其過去一個月的平均股價則有32.7%的溢價。

A number of Chinese companies have quit the US over the past couple of years, often due to poor valuations and thin liquidity compared to markets closer to home.

過去幾年中，多家中國企業已從美國退市，往往是因爲，與中國及其周邊股市相比，美國股市不僅估值較低，流動性也較差。

However, the trend has been accelerating rapidly this year, as a stock rally in China has further widened the valuation gap between US and domestic listings.

由於中國股市的暴漲進一步拉大了美國股市和國內股市的估值差距，中國企業從美國退市的潮流一直在迅速升溫。

Qihoo’s Deal would bring the value of Chinese companies going private in the US this year to $22.4bn, according to Dealogic, almost double the amount from the previous six years combined.

根據Dealogic的數據，奇虎360的退市會令今年從美國退市的中國企業總估值達到224億美元，幾乎是過去6年總額的兩倍。

The exodus may also have been sped up by the listing last year of Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba. It became the largest public offering in history, raising more than $25bn when it listed on the NYSE.

去年中國電子商務集團阿里巴巴(Alibaba)在美國的上市，可能也加劇了這一退市潮。阿里巴巴在紐約證券交易所(NYSE)上市籌資逾250億美元，成爲史上最大規模的公開上市交易。

However, its arrival may have taken attention away from some of the smaller Chinese internet companies, say analysts, depressing valuations just as those in China began to rise.

然而，分析師表示，阿里巴巴的上市可能將人們的注意力從規模更小的中國互聯網企業身上吸引過去，從而令這些企業的估值受到抑制。與此同時，中國國內上市的企業估值卻開始迅速上升。

Qihoo’s shares have fallen 20 per cent since Alibaba’s debut in August last year. During that time, the tech-heavy Shenzhen stock index has more than doubled. Qihoo trades at 14 times next year’s earnings, compared with an average of 34 times for the Shenzhen market.

自去年8月阿里巴巴上市以來，奇虎360的股價已下跌20%。在此期間，科技股雲集的深圳股市的股指卻已上漲一倍以上。以明年的盈利預期計算，奇虎360股票的市盈率是14倍，而深市的平均市盈率卻高達34倍。

More second-tier Chinese companies are expected to follow suit and leave the US behind in favour of domestic or Hong Kong listings.

預計將有更多第二梯隊的中國企業跟隨奇虎360，離開美國，在國內或香港上市。

If successful, the move to take Qihoo take private would be largest in the US by a Chinese company, overtaking Focus Media’s $3.7bn management-led buyout in May 2013. Focus has since orchestrated a relisting in Shenzhen via a reverse merger, in a deal valuing the company at $7.4bn.

如果奇虎360的退市交易取得成功，它將超過分衆傳媒(Focus Media)，成爲從美國退市的最大中國企業。2013年5月，分衆傳媒曾斥資37億美元，通過管理層收購的方式從美國退市。自那以來，分衆傳媒已通過逆向收購在深圳重新上市，估值已達到74億美元。