安邦保險介入令萬寶之爭升級
Anbang Insurance, the highly acquisitive Chinese group, has been adding to its stake in China Vanke amid a rare public battle over corporate ownership at the nation’s biggest homebuilder by sales.
在一次罕見的對企業所有權的公開爭奪中，熱衷於四處收購的中國集團安邦保險(Anbang Insurance)，一直在增持萬科集團(China Vanke)的股份。目前，萬科是中國銷售額最高的住宅開發商。
The Chinese insurer, which bought the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95bn last year and failed in a recent bid to buy Portuguese lender Novo Banco, increased its stake in China Vanke from 4.5 per cent to 7 per cent over the last three weeks, according to regulatory filings in Hong Kong.
安邦保險去年曾斥資19.5億美元收購紐約華爾道夫酒店(Waldorf Astoria hotel)，最近還曾試圖競購葡萄牙的Novo Banco銀行，不過未能取得成功。根據香港監管機構的文件，這家中國保險公司在過去三週內將手中持有的萬科股份從4.5%提升至7%。
Anbang’s move adds to the intrigue surrounding China Vanke, after the chairman of the company attacked stakebuilding by a lesser-known insurance and property group called Baoneng.
在此之前，萬科董事長王石曾譴責過一家企業增持萬科股份的行爲。這家企業名叫寶能(Baoneng)，是一家不那麼知名的保險和房地產集團。而安邦的舉動，則爲圍繞萬科股權的爭奪戰增添了變數。
Wang Shi, the charismatic, mountain-climbing founder of China Vanke, said the acquisition of a more than 20 per cent stake by companies linked to the Baoneng group “could ruin China Vanke’s greatest asset”, which he said was “trust in the company’s brand”.
王石是萬科集團的創始人，富有領袖魅力，喜愛登山。他說，“寶能系”公司收購逾20%的萬科股份“可能毀掉萬科最爲值錢的東西”，這種最值錢的東西據他說是“萬科的品牌信用”。
Baoneng, which is controlled by another tycoon, Yao Zhenhua, hit back saying that it was law-abiding, had contributed “huge value” to society and its clients, and believed in “the power of the market”.
目前，寶能由一位名爲姚振華的富豪控股。對於王石的言論，寶能迴應稱該集團恪守法律，爲社會和客戶創造了“巨大價值”，並相信“市場的力量”。
Shenzhen-listed shares of China Vanke have jumped by nearly 70 per cent over the past month, giving it a market capitalisation of around $40bn, as the Baoneng-linked entities overtook state-owned China Resources group to become the developer’s biggest shareholder.
在寶能系機構超過國有的華潤(China Resources)成爲萬科最大股東的同時，萬科在深圳上市的股票價格在過去一個月裏已躍升近70%，令該集團市值達到400億美元左右。
China Vanke asked for trading in its shares to be suspended on Friday and on Sunday it said it was working on a “material asset restructuring”, which some analysts speculate could be designed to dilute Baoneng’s holding.
週五，萬科曾要求將其股票停牌。週日，該集團表示正在籌劃“重大資產重組事項”。部分分析師猜測，這一重組計劃或旨在稀釋寶能股權。
While mergers and acquisitions are on the rise in China, executives rarely fight for corporate control in the public arena, preferring to secure approvals from officials behind the scenes before acting.
儘管中國併購現象正在不斷增加，企業的高管很少會公開爭奪企業的控股權，他們寧願在行動前通過幕後爭取獲得官方的批准。
“Generally Beijing frowns on public displays of confrontation in the markets,” said Andrew Collier of Orient Capital, an equity research house in Hong Kong. “This is new and significant because we’re seeing a very visible and well-respected company that now seems to be in play.”
香港股權研究機構Orient Capital的安德魯科利爾(Andrew Collier)表示：“通常，中國政府不願看到公開展示市場中的對峙現象。這種事件從未發生過，也很有意義，因爲我們在這次事件中看見，一家不可忽視而又備受推崇的企業正被捲入混戰。”
China’s property sector has come under increasing stress in the past couple of years as the economic slowdown has hit developers with large debts and those in smaller cities particularly hard.
過去兩年內，由於經濟放緩已令開發商背上沉重債務，中國的房地產業面臨的壓力日益升高，而較小城市的開發商處境尤爲艱難。
As well as being the largest, analysts view China Vanke as one of the country’s best developers in terms of the quality of its projects and its relatively strong financing position.
在分析師眼中，萬科除了是最大的開發商，以項目品質和相對強勢的融資地位來說，它還是中國最好的房地產開發商之一。
“The credit position of Vanke is very solid,” said Kaven Tsang, an analyst at Moody’s, the credit rating agency. “Its sales performance has been strong this year... it has managed a low debt leverage.”
信用評級機構穆迪(Moody's)分析師曾啓賢(Kaven Tsang)表示：“萬科的信用狀況非常堅挺。今年其銷售業績始終很強……而且該公司也成功保持了低債務槓桿。”
Baoneng affiliate Shenzhen Jushenghua has disclosed that it borrowed money to fund part of the acquisition of the China Vanke shares and analysts have questioned whether it would have the financial firepower to take over the company, even if it could secure approval to do so.
寶能系公司深圳鉅盛華(Jushenghua)已經披露，該公司曾借入資本，以便爲收購萬科股份提供部分資金。多名分析師質疑，即便該公司能夠得到相關許可，該公司是否會有足夠的財力收購萬科股份。
Mr Collier of Orient Capital said that despite the war of words, it was not clear if the stakebuilding was driven by commercial or political motives and that it was therefore uncertain how the dispute would turn out.
科利爾表示，儘管雙方出現了口頭上的交鋒，目前仍不清楚這次入股是否存在商業目的或政治目的，這次爭端的結果如何也因此難以確定。
After criticism of his opposition to Baoneng’s equity purchase, Mr Wang, who is a patron of the World Wildlife Fund and has studied at the universities of Cambridge and Harvard, took to social media on Monday night to clarify his position.
王石是世界自然基金會(World Wildlife Fund)的贊助商，曾在劍橋大學(University of Cambridge)和哈佛大學(University of Harvard)進修。在反對寶能的股權收購遭遇批評之後，週一晚上王石在社交媒體上澄清了他的立場。
“An enterprise is a group of people who are bound together by philosophy,” he wrote on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. “If the corporate philosophy changes, it would be a disaster. That’s just a matter of fact, not a value judgment.”
他在新浪微博(Weibo)上寫道：“企業是通過價值觀聚集起來的一羣人，企業價值觀如果發生突變將是一場災難。這只是一個簡單事實，而並非價值判斷。”
