起底安邦股東 空辦公室裏的殼公司

In the center of Beijing’s booming commercial district, with soaring office towers, gleaming shopping malls and luxury apartment complexes, sits a shabby, four-story building with an office that houses stupendous wealth.

在北京的一個商業區裏，辦公樓高聳入雲、購物中心閃閃發光、公寓大樓環境奢華。在這個繁榮的商業區的中心，坐落着一棟破敗的四層小樓，而樓裏的一間辦公室卻掌握着驚人的財富。

To get there, visitors must first pass through an unmarked entrance next to a gray-tiled post office, then pass through a maze of carelessly strung phone and power lines.

要去往那間辦公室，訪客必須先經過一個沒有標識的入口，入口旁邊是一個貼着灰色瓷磚的郵局。

On the fourth floor, down a hallway where black scuff marks on the walls indicate years of neglect, is the Hujialou Concentrated Office Zone, an officially sanctioned domicile for shell companies.

然後，再穿過一座由隨便牽搭的電話線和電線組成的迷宮。到了四樓，走廊牆壁上黑色的磨損痕跡表明這裏長年失修。走廊的盡頭，便是呼家樓集中辦公區。這是一個得到官方批准的殼公司註冊地。

According to government records, that office is home to two companies with a total stake that accounts for more than $15 billion in assets of one of China’s biggest financial conglomerates: the Anbang Insurance Group.

政府記錄顯示，這間辦公室是兩家公司的所在地，而這兩家公司在中國最大的金融集團之一安邦保險集團持有的股份，代表着該集團逾150億美元的資產。

Prying visitors are not welcome.

打探情況的訪客不受歡迎。

A woman at the office, who did not give her name, grew angry when a journalist told her that two companies there controlled a large share of Anbang.

當記者告訴辦公室裏的一名女子，這裏的兩家公司持有安邦的大量股份時，不願透露姓名的這名女子變得很生氣。

We’re just a private company, helping others register with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, she said, referring to the keepers of China’s corporate database.

我們就是一個私人企業，就是幫別人做工商註冊，她說。這名女子指的是在國家工商行政管理總局註冊，而該機構管理着中國的企業數據庫。

It is none of our business whether they are shell companies.

它們是不是殼公司和我們沒關係。

Another Anbang shareholding firm — one that controls $5.6 billion in assets — lists its address a few blocks away from the Hujialou building, at an office tower’s empty 27th floor.

另一家持有安邦股份的企業控制着價值56億美元的資產。這家公司的註冊地址與呼家樓這棟小樓只隔了幾個街區，在一棟辦公樓的27層，但那裏實際上空無一人。

Near the Temple of Heaven, the former imperial religious complex in Beijing, the listed address of yet another shareholding company turns out to be another empty office.

事實證明，在昔日的皇家祭祀場所天壇附近，另一家持股公司的註冊地址也是一間空置的辦公室。

The directory downstairs lists the former tenant: a shoe seller.

樓下的索引信息倒是列出了以前的租戶：一家賣鞋的企業。

A group of 39 companies control Anbang, which was once a sleepy insurance company and now has $295 billion in assets and a reputation as an ambitious global deal maker.

它由39家公司控制，這些公司中有不少所有者又是關係盤根錯節的殼公司。安邦曾是一家不甚活躍的保險公司，現在卻坐擁價值2950億美元的資產，並被冠以雄心勃勃的全球買家的名號。

Many of those companies are in turn owned by a welter of shell companies, many with similar names and addresses or common owners.

很多殼公司名字和地址相近，或是有着共同的所有者。

Ultimately, as The New York Times reports, they are controlled by about 100 people, many of whom hail from a county called Pingyang on China’s east coast.

正如《紐約時報》報道的那樣，這些公司歸根結底由大約100人控制，他們中的許多人來自中國東部沿海地區的一個叫平陽的縣。

Pingyang County is the home county of Anbang’s chairman, Wu Xiaohui.

那裏是安邦董事長吳小暉的家鄉。

In any major country, the shareholders of marquee companies are often household names themselves.

在任何一個大國，大企業的股東通常本身也是家喻戶曉的機構或個人。

General Electric counts major institutional investors such as the Vanguard Group and BlackRock as top owners.

比如，通用電氣(General Electric)便將先鋒集團(Vanguard Group)和貝萊德(BlackRock)等主要機構投資者列爲自己的大股東。

Berkshire Hathaway’s biggest shareholder is its chairman, Warren E. Buffett.

伯克希爾-哈撒韋(Berkshire Hathaway)最大的股東是其董事長沃倫•E•巴菲特(Warren E. Buffett)。

China is no exception.

中國也不例外。

Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, for example, led by China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, may match Anbang in the breadth of its political connections, but many of its biggest shareholders are easily recognizable Chinese companies like China Life Insurance.

比如，中國首富王健林領導的大連萬達商業地產在政治人脈的廣度上堪比安邦，但它的很多大股東是家喻戶曉的中國公司，如中國人壽。

Anbang is different.

安邦卻有所不同。

The companies that own it, and the people who back them, are almost all obscure.

持有安邦股份的公司，以及它們背後的支持者，幾乎全都名不見經傳。

Two state-owned companies that collectively own less than 2 percent of Anbang are the only exceptions.

唯一的例外是兩家國有企業，但它們加起來持有安邦不到2%的股份。

I first started writing about Chinese companies 16 years ago and have never seen a similar ownership structure at a major company.

本人16年前就開始採寫有關中國企業的報道，但從未在任何一家大公司看到過類似的所有權結構。

That is remarkable, given Anbang’s increasing size and prominence.

考慮到安邦的規模日漸擴大，聲望與日俱增，這一點不同尋常。

Earlier this year, Anbang came close to executing what would have been the biggest takeover ever of an American company by a Chinese company, offering more than $14 billion for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

今年早些時候，安邦差點達成中國公司對美國企業進行的規模最大的一筆收購案。當時，安邦提出以逾140億美元的價格收購喜達屋酒店及度假村國際集團(Starwood Hotels & Resorts)。

In China, the company not only sells auto and life insurance, but also controls a major bank in southwestern China, is the largest shareholder of one of the country’s biggest financial conglomerates, China Minsheng Banking Corporation, and is the second-largest shareholder in another, China Merchants Bank.

在中國，除了銷售汽車保險和人壽保險，安邦還控制着西南地區的一家大型銀行。它是中國巨型金融集團中國民生銀行的最大股東，同時是招商銀行的第二大股東。

But China is not an offshore haven like the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands.

但中國並非開曼羣島或英屬維爾京羣島那樣的離岸天堂。

The country’s online corporate records system allows those with patience to find the names behind the holding companies, even if — as with Anbang — the corporate shareholders frequently change names, addresses and owners.

只要有耐心，通過該國的在線企業備案系統就可以查到持股公司背後的名字，安邦也不例外，儘管其法人股東的名字、地址和所有者頻繁變動。

After more than three months of combing through thousands of pages of records, The Times was able to piece together a corporate history for those 39 shareholders.

時報花了三個多月的時間梳理成千上萬頁備案文件，從而還原出與這39個股東有關的企業史。

One clear pattern emerged.

一幅清晰的圖景浮出水面。

At least 35 of the companies, collectively owning more than 92 percent of Anbang, can trace all or part of their ownership to relatives of Mr.

其中至少35家公司——共持有安邦逾92%的股份——全部或部分的所有權可以追溯至吳小暉、其妻卓苒或陳小魯的親屬。

Wu or to his wife, Zhuo Ran, who is the granddaughter of the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping; or to Chen Xiaolu, the son of one of China’s most famous marshals, who helped Mao’s Communists to victory in 1949.

卓苒是中國前領導人鄧小平的外孫女，而陳小魯的父親是中國最知名的元帥之一，協助毛澤東領導的共產黨在1949年取得了勝利。

Those relatives are either current or former owners or directors of those companies, or current or former owners of predecessor firms.

有的親屬是這些公司當前或曾經的所有者或董事，有的則是其前身公司當前或曾經的所有者。

One example is Lin Cong, who owns a small share of the company.

例如持有安邦少量股份的林聰。

Mr. Lin is Mr. Wu’s cousin, the nephew of his mother, Lin Xiangmei, relatives say.

一些親屬透露，林聰爲吳小暉的表親，是吳小暉的母親林香美的外甥。

Back at the Hujialou Concentrated Office Zone, one of the Anbang shareholders there, a company called Beijing Bibo Investment Management Company, controls $10.9 billion in Anbang assets.

回到呼家樓集中辦公區，也就是安邦一個股東的註冊地，一家名叫北京碧波投資管理有限公司的企業控制着價值109億美元的安邦資產。

Until Dec. 1, 2014, that stake was ultimately owned by a woman named Wu Xiaoxia, corporate records show.

企業備案資料顯示，截至2014年12月1日，相關股份其實由一個名叫吳曉霞的女人持有。

Relatives in Pingyang County say she is very close to Mr. Wu.

平陽縣的親屬表示，她和吳小暉非常親。

She is his sister.

她就是他的親妹妹。