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With the boom of Chinese companies listing in Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore and other regions, the Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Bermuda? These small islands that were originally not well-known have gradually become the places for Chinese companies to register offshore companies. cradle. It is said that 10,641 companies registered in these areas are related to mainland China, and among them, Sina, NetEase, Kingdee, China Unicom and other companies are all familiar names to us. Currently, on average, a new Chinese-concept company is registered in these areas every day. In fact, the owners of these companies may never go to the place where the company is registered in their lifetime. It is worth noting that the places of registration chosen by these companies have an obvious characteristic - almost all of them are international tax havens. However, according to the provisions of my country's tax laws and the restrictions of my country's foreign exchange management system, the amount of legal international tax avoidance that can be carried out in these areas is very small, because the Chinese government taxes residents' global income from within China. So, what is the driving force that drives a large number of enterprises, especially private enterprises, to flock to these offshore islands? With questions in mind, the reporter interviewed a series of people related to this phenomenon - private enterprise owners, investment bank managers, intermediaries, tax lawyers, and professors of international taxation and international economic law, trying to solve this mystery that seems to be tacitly understood by everyone. The Beautiful Turning Point of Curved Listing When it comes to registering overseas offshore companies in Cayman and Bermuda, industry insiders in China who are familiar with the capital market may first think of a term - overseas curved listing. The academic name for overseas curve listing is "shell listing", that is, a holding company of a Chinese-funded company must be established in the location of the overseas securities market to be listed or in a country (region) where it is allowed, and then apply for listing in the name of the holding company. Let us first review the successful cases of Chinese companies listed overseas: On October 9, 1992, China's first stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange was "Brilliance Automobile", and its full name was "Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Co., Ltd." , registered in Bermuda in June 1992, and all funds raised from the listing were used for the industrial enterprise "Shenyang Jinbei Bus Manufacturing Co., Ltd." in mainland China; in early 1999, a new face appeared on the Singapore Stock Exchange - Eagle Holdings, registered In the Cayman Islands, the listed company behind it, Guangdong Foshan Eagle Ceramics Company, became the first Chinese private enterprise to be listed overseas; in 1995, Huizhou Qiaoxing went to the British Virgin Islands through a company originally registered in Hong Kong. Qiao Xing Global was registered and established, and 90% of the equity of Qiao Xing Group was repurchased in the name of Qiao Xing Global, and then listed on NASDAQ in the United States on February 17, 1999, becoming the first Chinese private enterprise to be listed on NASDAQ; On January 31, 2000, "Yuxing Computer Technology Holdings Co., Ltd." registered in Bermuda became the first mainland private enterprise to be successfully listed on the Hong Kong GEM, raising HK$420 million in funds. Following the path of success pioneered by these pioneers, the successors were full of confidence and embarked on the difficult road of listing on this curve. The first stop on this road is often to go to Cayman, Bermuda, or Virgin Islands to register one or several companies. A senior person in the overseas investment banking business described: "These small islands are a beautiful turning point in the overseas listing curve of Chinese companies." Indeed, starting from the mainland, through this turning point, private companies can both go to Hong Kong The GEM can even enter the Nasdaq in the United States. Because the laws of Bermuda, Cayman, and the British Virgin Islands belong to the common law system, they are the legal registration places for companies listed on NASDAQ in the United States. According to the first article of the "Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market Listing Rules" promulgated by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 1992 regarding the registration place of companies listed on the Growth Enterprise Market, in addition to being registered in mainland China and Hong Kong, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands can also be registered. In the column. According to incomplete statistics, there are far more Hong Kong GEM listed companies that choose Cayman and Bermuda as their places of registration than companies registered in mainland China and Hong Kong: We selected 10 Hong Kong GEM stocks with codes between 8003 and 8028. Of the listed companies, it was found that only one was registered in Hong Kong, and the other nine companies (four of which were mainly operating in the Mainland) were all registered in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda - you can see from the inside. So, why do these listed companies not choose the location where the securities market is located to register but have to bypass the distant and unfamiliar Cayman and Bermuda? People from various parties related to this have different opinions, but upon closer inspection, they seem to be roughly the same. There are no more than the following four reasons: simple registration procedures, risk reduction, evasion of foreign exchange controls, and legal tax avoidance. If you want to go public, you will inevitably face various complex approval procedures and regulatory requirements, which will definitely cause headaches for companies. However, everything can be avoided. Small islands such as Cayman, Bermuda, and Virgin Islands, as the paradise of offshore registration, can save companies a lot of trouble with complicated procedures and rules: companies do not need to produce and operate in the place of registration. , the registered capital can be transferred for other purposes. The sponsors of the company are not required to be local residents or nationals, and there is no need to provide financial statements to the local tax bureau. Moreover, there are now a large number of intermediaries in China that handle the registration of offshore companies, and there are no obstacles despite the seemingly long distance.