19 December, 2015
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU), a leading Internet company in China, announced on December 18, 2015, that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by a consortium of investors in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$9.3 billion, making it China's largest going private transaction for a U.S.-listed company.
Kirkland & Ellis represented a consortium of investors, including, among others, 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. The merger agreement was signed on December 18, 2015. The Kirkland team is led by Hong Kong corporate partners David Zhang, Jesse Sheley, Xiaoxi Lin and Amie Tang.
Skadden acted as U.S. legal counsel to Qihoo's Special Committee of the Board of Directors, a committee of independent and disinterested directors established by the Board. The Skadden team includes partners Julie Gao (Hong Kong), Peter Huang (Beijing), Daniel Dusek (Beijing), Clive Rough (Hong Kong) and Joseph Yaffe (Palo Alto), and associates Shu Du, William Zhu and Weiwei Chen.
