The test preparation company Princeton Review and online counseling platform Tutor.com said that a transaction for a Chinese private equity company has been approved by the regulatory authorities.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chunhua Capital Group, headquartered in Hong Kong, acquired these brands from the Korean Education Company St Unitas in January 2022. At that timestrict.
Investment in the technology and infrastructure industries, or investments involving a large amount of potential sensitive personal data, sometimes are reviewed by the US Foreign Investment Commission (CFIUS); CFIUS is a federal committee, responsible for national security considerationsExamine the acquisition plan of foreign investors.
It is reported that Tutor.com has a long -term contract to provide services to active service, reserve and other American soldiers, the Ministry of Defense and their families.The platform also signed a contract with the school district, including Los Angeles, New Jersey Petsen and Virginia Lau Deng County, to provide online operation help and discipline counseling.For qualified suppliers.
National Security Analysts and a lawyer who assisted foreign companies to complete the regulatory process in the United States said that Chinese companies have become more careful and uneasy about public investment in the United States, because they are worried that it will cause data security levelDoubt.
Former American intelligence analysts, John Hopkins University lecturer Elly Rostour said that the United States is paying more close attention to such transactions, because the United States is increasingly regarding China as opponentsEssenceRostom's impact on investment in Chinese companies on US national security.She said: "This big way is reasonable ... The United States has reason to worry about these transactions."
The US government interprets this way of the Chinese National Security Law. Any settingOrganizations in China, whether state -owned enterprises, start -up enterprises, investment management companies, or large companies, if the Chinese government requires them to share information, they will be forced to do according to the requirements.
Rostom said that whether the Chinese government has asked the company to provide such data, the relevant legislation that allows the Chinese government to do so should attract the attention of the US regulatory agency.
The company of Chunhua Capital Investment includes the Chinese baby formula milk powder business of Alibaba, Yumsum China, and Bybolic and Li Jie.Last year, Chunhua Capital made luxury fashion company Reinforcement Group listing in the United States through a blank check company.Chunhua Capital also has Spring Education, which runs hundreds of private schools.
It is reported that CharlesBank Capital privatized Princeton Review in 2012, and then sold it to IAC/Interactive Corp. in 2014, the latter acquired Tutor.com in 2013.In 2017, the merging training and counseling company was sold to South Korean company St Unitas.
South Korea Economic News reported in early January 2022 that St Unitas hopes to sell these two brands for about $ 100 million (about 133 million yuan) to focus on its domestic services.
The latest transaction has not been carried out.Chunhua Capital did not issue a press release. Both PrinoTon Review and Tutor.com are not among the 54 companies on the list of investment portfolios of this Chinese private equity company.
However, Chunhua Capital, Princeton Review and Tutor.com said that they did not conceal the transaction. Shortly after the acquisition was completed last year, they submitted the necessary notice in the federal contract system.The system is open to the public.
tutor.com collect data about users and counselors, including name, family address, IP address, and their curriculum -related records.US national security experts said that people are not worried about what the Chinese government will use this information now, but how this information may be collected to create files about individuals or their families in the future, or whether this information may eventually be decomposed.
Tutor.com and Princeton Review said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal: "We continue to work to protect students' privacy." They said that they did not share students or school data with Chunhua Capital,And Chunhua Capital did not enter the company's internal system permissions.They say that they may only provide information to Chunhua Capital on the basis of anonymous, aggregation and de -identification.
Chunhua Capital told the Wall Street Journal at the end of March this year that all the necessary documents and notifications have been submitted to obtain approval from the US government, but they did not explain in detail where to send these notices.The company said that by May, the transaction had been approved.
