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.
It is just over a year since the renminbi’s surprise 1.9 per cent depreciation and an additional 4.3 per cent drop in value against the dollar later. Today the delicate balancing act between allowing the currency to slowly drop, yet avoiding giving rise to massive capital outflows, continues. July saw an acceleration in net capital outflows yet again, though not nearly as dire as in January or a year ago.
Meanwhile, beyond the intervention of the authorities to temper the flows, the fundamentals that partly determine the value of the Chinese currency are shifting.