At the end of last year, a group of investors decided to take the Nasdaq-listed, China-based company Qihoo 360 private. Their biggest concern was whether they could get a high enough price. They did, $9.3bn including the assumption of $1.6bn in debt. But the authorities’ sharp watch against capital outflows meant the process took far longer than originally expected. That is because according to Chinese law these investors, led by Sequoia Capital China, had to create a domestic company on the mainland to buy the Qihoo shares from foreign investors. The subsequent money transfer to those offshore holders required approval from Beijing which took far longer than expected.
去年底，一些投資者決定將在那斯達克(Nasdaq)上市、總部位於中國的奇虎360(Qihoo 360)私有化。他們最擔憂的是價格是否會足夠高。他們如願以償，總價93億美元，包括承擔16億美元債務。但中國當局嚴防資本流出的姿態意味著，這個過程耗費的時間遠遠超過最初的預期。這是因爲根據中國法律，以紅杉資本中國基金(Sequoia Capital China)爲首的這些投資者必須在中國境內設立一家公司，從外國投資者手中收購奇虎的股票。隨後向這些境外持股者的資金轉賬需要獲得中國當局批准，所花的時間遠遠超出預期。