New Oriental, China’s biggest private educator, makes money from English-test preparation. That has helped revenues to grow about two-fifths annually over the past five years. Yet its US-listed shares are back where they were at the start of 2009 – thanks to analysis by Muddy Waters Research, questioning the ownership of some of New Oriental’s schools and the consolidation of its financial statements. Once again the probes put into question the variable interest equity structure often adopted by Chinese companies tapping overseas markets for capital.
中國最大的民營教育機構新東方(New Oriental)靠英語考試培訓賺錢。過去5年中，新東方營收每年成長約40%。然而，新東方在美國上市股票的股價又跌回了2009年初的水準——這都「得益於」渾水研究公司(Muddy Waters Research)的調查，它對新東方旗下一些學校的所有權和財務報表合併情況提出了質疑。調查再一次令「可變利益實體」(VIE)結構受到質疑。在赴海外市場籌資的中國企業中，採取這種結構十分普遍。