Qihoo 360 Technology: Uncertainties in Hozon Auto Investment
Cybersecurity service provider Qihoo 360 Technology issued a supplementary announcement on its investments on Thursday, saying that because this investment involves taking over shares in a new energy automobile manufacturer, it will lead to major changes in the ownership structure of Hozon Auto.
As a result, this investment needs to obtain the consent of relevant departments, which poses some uncertainty in the deal. Investors need to pay attention to the possible risks.
Yesterday, Qihoo 360 Technology announced that, as the leading investor of D-round investment of Hozon New Energy Automobile (hereinafter referred to as “Hozon Auto”), it planned to invest 2.9 billion yuan ($453 million) to invest in Hozon Auto.
After this investment is completed, the company will hold 16.5940% equity of Hozon Auto in total and become the largest shareholder except its management team.
According to previous announcement, Qihoo 360 Technology planned to strategically invest in Hozon Auto, aiming to take the safety of smart-network vehicles as its cornerstone. The company also wants to provide Hozon Auto with Qihoo 360’s experience in security development of fields like network, smart hardware and networked vehicles. It planned to further study the safety of smartnetwork vehicles by relying on a follow-up in-depth strategic cooperation between the two parties.
The joint research effort would be able to better provide safety services applied on smart-network vehicles for automobile enterprises and industrial chain partners in the entire industry.
