近400億美元中資海外收購受阻

Moves by Brussels and Berlin to thwart high-profile Chinese takeovers yesterday are the latest sign of stiffening resistance in the west to investment from Beijing that has scuppered the lion’s share of nearly $40bn in planned Chinese acquisitions since mid-2015.

布魯塞爾和柏林方面昨日採取的阻止中資大筆收購的舉措是最新跡象，表明西方對中資的牴觸情緒不斷加強。自2015年年中以來，總計近400億美元的中資收購計劃絕大部分遭到否決。

Most have fallen foul over competition and security issues, such a takeover target’s proximity to a key military base, and have prompted some western governments to consider new regulatory procedures to probe Chinese deals.

多數項目被競爭和安全問題攪亂，比如收購目標靠近某個關鍵的軍事基地。同時新的局面促使一些西方政府考慮實行新的監管程序來調查中資交易。

The $40bn total, compiled by boutique investment bank Grisons Peak, does not include proposed takeovers of Swiss agribusiness Syngenta and German semiconductor company Aixtron for $44bn and EURO670m, respectively. Both faced problems yesterday following reviews by the EU and Germany.

上述400億美元總額是由精品投資銀行Grisons Peak彙總得出的，它不包括中資對瑞士農業企業先正達(Syngenta)和德國半導體公司愛思強(Aixtron)擬議中的收購，這兩筆交易的價值分別達到440億美元和6.70億歐元。在歐盟和德國進行審查後，昨日它們都面臨變數。

Despite the concerns, Chinese acquirers continue to unveil fresh deals. HNA Group, an aviation and leisure conglomerate, announced it would buy a 25 per cent stake in hotelier Hilton Worldwide from Blackstone for $6.5bn while financial holdings conglomerate China Oceanwide agreed a $2.7bn purchase of US insurer Genworth Financial.

儘管各方表示擔憂，但中國收購方繼續公佈新的交易。航空和休閒綜合企業海航集團(HNA Group)宣佈將斥資65億美元，從黑石(Blackstone)購得希爾頓全球酒店(Hilton Worldwide) 25%股權，而金融控股集團中國泛海(China Oceanwide)將以27億美元協議收購美國保險公司Genworth Financial。

But there are signs that the increasing scrutiny is becoming a brake on the surge in Chinese takeovers. Announced Chinese M&A deals in the third quarter of this year amounted to $46.1bn, down from $49.4bn in the second quarter and a quarterly record of $95.6bn in the first, according to data from Grisons Peak.

但有跡象表明，越來越多的審查正在遏止中資收購浪潮。Grisons Peak的數據顯示，今年第三季度公佈的中國併購交易總額爲461億美元，低於第二季度的494億美元，也低於第一季度創下的956億美元這一季度紀錄。

Last week it emerged that Blackstone, the private equity group, had dropped plans to sell San Diego’s landmark Hotel del Coronado — which is located near a sensitive naval base — for about $1bn to China’s Anbang Insurance. It is one of several deals recently held up by US national security concerns.

上週，私人股權集團黑石放棄了把加州聖迭戈地標性的科羅納多酒店(Hotel del Coronado)——靠近一個敏感的海軍基地——以大約10億美元出售給中國安邦保險(Anbang Insurance)的計劃。這是近期因爲美國國家安全擔憂而受阻的數筆交易之一。

A total of 11 big acquisitions have been dropped by Chinese suitors since July last year, mainly as a result of closer examination by authorities in the US, Australia and elsewhere. The total value of foiled deals comes to $38.9bn, the data show, or 14 per cent of all deals announced over the past 16 months. The proportion of failures would surge if the Syngenta, Aixtron and other approaches were also blocked.

自去年7月以來，中國買家總共放棄了11項大型收購，原因主要是美國、澳大利亞和其他地方的有關部門收緊了審查。數據顯示，受阻交易的總價值達到389億美元，相當於過去16個月期間宣佈的全部交易的14%。如果先正達、愛思強和其他交易也被阻止，失敗比例將會激增。

Syngenta shares dropped sharply yesterday after acquirer ChemChina failed to offer concessions to an EU competition inquiry ahead of a deadline. The proposed deal would be the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese group.

先正達股價昨日大幅下跌，原因是收購方中國化工(ChemChina)未能在截止日期前向歐盟的一項競爭調查提交讓步。這筆擬議中的交易本來將成爲中資集團史上最大的海外併購。

Berlin also withdrew a certificate saying it had no objection to the sale of Aixtron to Chinese investors and said it was reopening a review, Aixtron said.

愛思強表示，柏林方面還收回了表示它不反對將愛思強出售給中國投資者的一份證書，並稱將重新開始審查。

Martin Fischer, analyst at Alaco, said an “emerging push for protectionism” in Germany was being fuelled by a flood of Chinese investments, with particular vigilance for state-owned enterprises.

Alaco分析師馬丁.費希爾(Martin Fischer)表示，一波中國投資在德國助推了一股“新的保護主義傾向”，人們對國有企業尤其警惕。

Theresa May, UK prime minister, is planning to introduce a new system to vet foreign investment into Britain. Mrs May wants to be able to intervene in an “orderly and structured” way on sensitive foreign investment cases and is studying the US and Australian regimes.

英國首相特里薩.梅(Theresa May)計劃引入一套新的制度來審查對英國的外國投資。梅希望能夠對敏感的外國投資案例進行“有序和結構化”的干預，並正在研究美國和澳大利亞的制度。

In August, Australia blocked China’s state-owned State Grid Corp and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, a Hong Kong company, from taking a $7.6bn controlling stake in the country’s biggest electricity distribution network on national security grounds.

今年8月，澳大利亞以國家安全爲由，阻止了中國國有的國家電網公司(State Grid Corp)和香港公司長江基建(Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings)買下該國最大配電網絡76億美元控股股權。