WeWork真的物有所值 WeWork in China will it
Money is fleeing China. Not all of China, though: the right investment idea can still attract cash. Late on Wednesday WeWork, the New York-based office space start-up, said it had received $430m in funding from investors including two China-based private equity funds, Hony Capital and Legend Holdings (they are affiliates). The deal values the company at $16bn.
資金正在撤離中國。但並非整個中國：合適的投資理念仍然可以吸引資金。週三晚些時候，總部位於紐約的辦公空間租賃初創企業WeWork表示，已收到多家投資機構總值4.3億美元的融資，其中包括兩家中國私募基金：弘毅投資(Hony Capital)和聯想控股(Legend Holdings)（弘毅投資是聯想控股成員企業）。這筆融資令該公司估值達到160億美元。
WeWork takes long-term leases on buildings, fitting them out and renting desks and offices to start-ups. The deal marks the two Chinese fund houses’ largest investment in a US company, according to Dealogic data. In the past three years, Hony and Legend have been involved in at least $8bn worth of transactions. Until now, only two of the top 20 — Hony’s buyout of the UK’s PizzaExpress and its recent purchase of a stake in Australian energy company Santos — have been in China. Still, Hony and Legend are not straying from familiar territory with WeWork: the funds raised will be used to help the company expand in Asia, with China a focus.
WeWork以長期合同租下整棟建築，裝修後再將其中的辦公桌和辦公室出租給初創企業。根據Dealogic的數據，這筆融資創下這兩家中國基金公司向美國企業投資的最大金額。在過去三年裏，弘毅和聯想已涉及價值至少80億美元的交易。迄今爲止，規模排名前20的交易中，只有兩筆是在中國以外——弘毅收購英國PizzaExpress的交易和它最近入股澳大利亞能源公司Santos的交易。儘管如此，弘毅和聯想並沒有因爲投資WeWork而偏離他們熟悉的疆域：此次融資所得將用來幫助該企業在亞洲擴張，中國是重點。
In keeping with the bubbly trend for unlisted start-ups, the pricing is frothy. Regus, a UK-listed flexible workplace provider, is valued at just $4bn. That company claims 3,000 centres in 120 countries with 1.5m members. For a valuation four times as large, WeWork — still mainly US-focused — has 77 spaces in 23 cities to service its 50,000 customers.
與其他未上市的初創企業價格泡沫趨勢一致，這筆交易的泡沫也很厲害。英國上市的靈活辦公空間提供商Regus，市場估值僅40億美元。該公司號稱在120個國家擁有3000個辦公中心和150萬會員。估值四倍於其的WeWork（仍然很大程度上專注於美國市場）在23個城市擁有77個辦公空間，服務於5萬客戶。
Many US companies have struggled to make headway in the Chinese market, even with domestic money behind them. Of the stable of “unicorns” — private companies valued highly by the market — Uber has been one of the most high-profile. The taxi-hailing app has faced stiff competition from local rival Didi Kuaiche, formed of two companies that merged last year, uniting forces against the US interloper. Last month, the company revealed it is burning more than $1bn a year in China — more than half the amount it raised in a China funding round in late 2015.
許多美國公司都很難在中國市場取得進展，即便有中國本地資金作爲後盾也不例外。在那些“獨角獸企業”（獲估值較高的私有企業）中，Uber一直是最引人注目的一個。這款打車軟件受到本地競爭對手滴滴快車強有力的競爭，滴滴快車在去年由兩家公司合併以聯手對付來自美國的市場闖入者。上個月，Uber透露其在中國一年燒錢超過10億美元——超過它在2015年末從中國籌得資金的一半。
