Qihoo 360 is poised¹ to become the largest Chinese company to delist from the US after receiving a $9bn management-led buyout offer.

在收到90亿美元的管理层收购要约之后，奇虎360(Qihoo 360)或将成为从美国退市的最大中国企业。

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 prospective² buyers also include Citic Securities and Sequoia³ Capital China.

在美国股市周三闭市之后，这家互联网服务集团表示已收到一份“初步非约束性私有化要约”。这一私有化要约来自一个以奇虎360董事长兼首席执行官周鸿祎为首的团队，潜在买家还包括中信证券(Citic Securities)和红杉中国(Sequoia Capital China)。

The $77 per share offer equates⁴ to a 16.6 per cent premium⁵ over Qihoo’s closing price on Tuesday, and a 32.7 per cent premium over the average over the past month.

该私有化要约中提出的开价为每股77美元，相对奇虎360周二的收盘价有16.6%的溢价，相对其过去一个月的平均股价则有32.7%的溢价。

A number of Chinese companies have quit the US over the past couple of years, often due to poor valuations and thin liquidity⁶ compared to markets closer to home.

过去几年中，多家中国企业已从美国退市，往往是因为，与中国及其周边股市相比，美国股市不仅估值较低，流动性也较差。

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.

由于中国股市的暴涨进一步拉大了美国股市和国内股市的估值差距，中国企业从美国退市的潮流一直在迅速升温。

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.

根据Dealogic的数据，奇虎360的退市会令今年从美国退市的中国企业总估值达到224亿美元，几乎是过去6年总额的两倍。

The exodus⁷ 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.

去年中国电子商务集团阿里巴巴(Alibaba)在美国的上市，可能也加剧了这一退市潮。阿里巴巴在纽约证券交易所(NYSE)上市筹资逾250亿美元，成为史上最大规模的公开上市交易。

However, its arrival may have taken attention away from some of the smaller Chinese internet companies, say analysts⁸, depressing valuations just as those in China began to rise.

然而，分析师表示，阿里巴巴的上市可能将人们的注意力从规模更小的中国互联网企业身上吸引过去，从而令这些企业的估值受到抑制。与此同时，中国国内上市的企业估值却开始迅速上升。

Qihoo’s shares have fallen 20 per cent since Alibaba’s debut⁹ 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 earnings¹⁰, compared with an average of 34 times for the Shenzhen market.

自去年8月阿里巴巴上市以来，奇虎360的股价已下跌20%。在此期间，科技股云集的深圳股市的股指却已上涨一倍以上。以明年的盈利预期计算，奇虎360股票的市盈率是14倍，而深市的平均市盈率却高达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.

预计将有更多第二梯队的中国企业跟随奇虎360，离开美国，在国内或香港上市。

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 merger¹¹, in a deal valuing the company at $7.4bn.

如果奇虎360的退市交易取得成功，它将超过分众传媒(Focus Media)，成为从美国退市的最大中国企业。2013年5月，分众传媒曾斥资37亿美元，通过管理层收购的方式从美国退市。自那以来，分众传媒已通过逆向收购在深圳重新上市，估值已达到74亿美元。