Qihoo to be acquired for US$9.3b
Print Edition
QIHOO 360 Technology Co has agreed to be acquired by a group of investors in a deal valued at about US$9.3 billion, joining a long list of US-listed Chinese technology companies being taken private this year.
Executives at several Chinese companies have been betting on higher valuations back home, but the economy that accounts for much of their business has been slowing.
The offer of US$77 per American Depositary Share represents a 16.6 percent premium to the stock’s closing on June 16, the day before the company said it had received a buyout offer from a consortium led by Chief Executive Zhou Hongyi.
The company said yesterday that entities controlled by Zhou and Chairman Qi Xiangdong agreed to vote all their shares in favor of the deal. Their combined stake represents about 61 percent of the voting rights attached to the outstanding shares.
It was not clear whether Zhou was part of the consortium that is taking Qihoo private.
In deals collectively worth US$40 billion, some 33 Chinese mainland companies have unveiled plans this year to be taken private and delist from the United States as of mid-November, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Chinese firms that have been taken private include Shanda Games Ltd and medical R&D services provider WuXi PharmaTech.
Online dating service Jiayuan.com, dubbed the Match.com of China, is in the process of being taken private.
In November, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd offered to take Youku Tudou Inc, popularly known as China’s YouTube, private for about US$3.7 billion.
The Qihoo deal, which is now set to close during the first half of 2016, includes about US$1.6 billion of debt.
The consortium taking the company private includes Citic Guoan, Golden Brick Silk Road Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Taikang Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, Sunshine Insurance, New China Capital, Huatai Ruilian, Huasheng Capital or their affiliated entities.
JPMorgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd is the financial adviser to the company’s special committee. Huatai United Securities Co is the consortium’s financial adviser.
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