郭臺銘呼籲日本允許富士康收購夏普

The takeover battle over troubled electronics maker Sharp has intensified after Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, made a personal appeal to the Japanese government and bank officials to take its $5.1bn offer seriously.

臺灣鴻海精密(Hon Hai Precision Industry)創始人、董事長郭臺銘(Terry Gou)以個人名義呼籲日本政府官員和銀行高管認真對待自己51億美元的報價後，圍繞苦苦掙扎中的電子產品製造商夏普(Sharp)的收購戰升級。

Mr Gou’s visit to Tokyo came as Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, seeks to allay concerns about a foreign takeover of a century-old Japanese company and boost its chances of beating a rival offer by a government-backed fund.

郭臺銘訪問東京之際，鴻海——其更知名的名稱是富士康(Foxconn)——正在尋求化解日本國內對於這家百年企業被外國同行收購的擔憂，提高自己擊敗一家政府支持基金的報價的機會。

The deal has been closely watched by overseas investors as a test case for Japan’s openness to foreign businesses and promises to enhance shareholder returns.

海外投資者密切地關注着這一交易，把它視爲檢驗日本對外國企業的開放度和提高股東回報率的承諾的一個案例。

The Y600bn ($5.1bn) bid submitted by the Apple supplier last week includes promises to protect jobs and to shoulder the debt held by Sharp’s banks, according to people with knowledge of the offer.

知情人士表示，這家蘋果(Apple)供應商上週提出的6000億日元（約合51億美元）的報價中，包含保留工作崗位和承擔夏普債務的承諾。

Foxconn also hopes to convince sceptics by pointing to its investment in Sharp’s flagship liquid crystal display plant in Sakai, western Japan. Since it took a stake in the plant in 2012, the facility has achieved a steady growth rate of 3 to 5 per cent for the past three years in profit, according to one person with knowledge of its operations.

富士康也提到了自己對位於日本西部堺市(Sakai)的夏普旗艦液晶面板工廠的投資，希望勸服懷疑者們。知情人士表示，自從2012年富士康入股該廠以來，過去3年裏，該廠每年的盈利增長率保持在穩定的3%至5%之間。

Yasuo Nakane, analyst at Mizuho Securities, says Foxconn is pursuing Sharp for its advanced display technology and the company’s engineers. The company needs them to support its plants in China which make Apple’s iPhone products.

瑞穗證券(Mizuho Securities)分析師中根康夫(Yasuo Nakane)表示，富士康競購夏普，是爲了得到其先進的顯示屏技術和工程技術人員。富士康需要這些資源來支持其設在中國大陸、爲蘋果生產iPhone產品的工廠。

The chances of the Taiwanese company winning the bid have been considered slim amid Japanese government worries about Sharp’s technology falling into foreign hands.

外界一直認爲這家臺灣公司贏得競標的機率非常小，因爲日本政府擔心夏普的技術落到外國人之手。

Critics also question Foxconn’s ability to run such a large company, and have raised concerns about working conditions. A series of worker suicides drew attention to its labour practices in 2010, prompting the company to improve factory conditions.

批評者也質疑富士康是否有能力管理夏普這麼大的公司，並對富士康的工作條件表示了擔憂。2010年，一連串的工人自殺事件使得富士康的僱工行爲成爲外界關注的焦點，促使富士康改進工廠狀況。

People familiar with the talks have previously suggested that Sharp and its lenders were leaning towards an offer made by the state-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), which is said to be half the level of Foxconn’s bid.

知情人士此前暗示，夏普及其債權銀行傾向於日本政府支持的“產業革新機構”(INCJ)提出的報價，儘管其報價據稱只有富士康的一半。

But with details of the Taiwanese company’s bid in the open, analysts say it will probably raise the bar for Sharp and its lenders to justify its preference for the lower bid to shareholders.

但隨着這家臺灣公司公開報價細節，分析師們表示，這很可能加大夏普及其銀行向股東證明其應該接受更低報價的難度。