郭英成捲土重來 佳兆業故事陡生變數

Just months after resigning, the former head of the embattled Chinese property developer, the Kaisa Group, returned unexpectedly to the helm, raising doubts about whether the company’s rescue by a rival will move forward.

辭職僅數月後，身陷困境的中國房地產開發商佳兆業集團前掌門人出人意料地再次掌權。這讓人們懷疑，競爭對手對該公司的救助是否會繼續。

The surprise comeback on Monday of the chairman and chief executive, Guo Yingcheng, is the latest twist in the Kaisa story.

董事會主席、執行董事郭英成周一的迴歸，是佳兆業這個故事的最新轉折。

Once a darling of global investors, Kaisa started to stumble last fall, after the government blocked the sale of some of its properties in Shenzhen, its largest market. The company’s stock sank and its bonds plummeted, as analysts raised concerns about its debt load and finances.

佳兆業曾是全球投資者的寵兒，深圳則是其最大市場。但去年秋天，在政府阻止了其在深圳的部分房地產項目的銷售後，佳兆業開始出現問題。隨着分析人士提出對其債務負擔和財務狀況的擔憂，該公司股價暴跌，債券大幅貶值。

Late last year, Mr. Guo departed, citing health reasons, and other top executives left soon after. Then in February, the chairman and his family agreed to sell their entire 49 percent stake in Kaisa to another Chinese property developer, Sunac China.

去年年底，郭英成以健康原因爲由離開佳兆業。不久後，其他一些高層管理人員也紛紛離職。到了今年2月，郭英成及其家族同意將49%的佳兆業股份，全部出售給中國另一家房地產開發商融創中國。

Now, that deal is in question. Analysts said that the management announcement could be a sign that Mr. Guo was seeking to regain control of the company that he co-founded with family members in 1999.

如今，這筆交易生出了變數。分析人士稱，管理團隊變更的公告可能象徵着，郭英成正在尋求重新獲得對公司的控制權。郭英成同家族成員一起，於1999年創立了該公司。

“The conditions are unclear,” said Edison Bian, a property analyst at UOB Kay Hian. “For now, we can only conclude that there are more uncertainties. Whether Sunac is out of Kaisa remains unclear.”

“情況尚不明朗，”大華繼顯(UOB Kay Hian)的房地產業分析師邊源(Edison Bian)說。“目前，我們只能推斷，不確定性更多了。融創會不會放手佳兆業尚不清楚。”

Kaisa offered no further details on Monday about the change. But Mr. Guo is returning as Kaisa’s prospects show signs of stabilizing.

週一當天，佳兆業未就此番變動給出進一步的細節。但郭英成此次迴歸之際，正值佳兆業的前景顯露出日漸穩定的跡象。

Just days ago, the company said that Shenzhen authorities had lifted some of the sales restrictions. And the company recently agreed to borrow roughly $225 million from Sino-Life Insurance, one of its largest shareholders.

就在幾天前，該公司稱深圳當局取消了部分銷售限制。而且前不久，該公司同意從最大的股東之一生命人壽保險股份有限公司藉資13.77億人民幣。

On Monday, prices of the company’s bonds, which have continued trading, rose slightly after the announcement.

其債券一直都在交易中。週一，公告發布後，該公司的債券價格小幅上漲。

“The return of the chairman is a positive development for the company,” said Franco Leung, a Hong Kong-based analyst at the credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service. “He has a good understanding of the company’s strategy and its operations.”

“對公司來說，董事會主席的迴歸是一個積極的發展，”信用評級機構穆迪投資者服務公司(Moody’s Investors Service)駐香港的分析師樑鎮邦(Franco Leung)說。“他很瞭解公司的戰略和業務。”

Sunac declined on Monday to comment on the return of Mr. Guo. Kaisa declined to comment further.

週一當天，融創拒絕就郭英成的迴歸發表評論。佳兆業也拒絕進一步置評。

Mr. Guo, 50, has been at the center of the firestorm at Kaisa.

在佳兆業的風暴中，50歲的郭英成一直處在中心位置。

After the sales restrictions were imposed last fall, reports surfaced that Kaisa’s property deals were the subject of a corruption investigation. Kaisa’s chairman, the reports indicated, was being questioned in the case.

去年秋天銷售遭到限制後，一些報道浮出了水面，稱佳兆業的房地產交易是一場腐敗調查的對象。報道指出，佳兆業的董事會主席正在接受調查。

Bloomberg News has reported that Kaisa’s problems were linked to Jiang Zunyu, a high-ranking Communist Party official in Shenzhen who was detained last October on suspicion of corruption. Mr. Jiang was later found to have 42 homes and $32 million in unexplained cash.

彭博新聞社(Bloomberg News)報道稱，佳兆業的問題和深圳高官蔣尊玉有關。蔣尊玉於去年10月因涉嫌腐敗被羈押，後被查明擁有42套房產，以及超過2億元來源不明的現金。

Kaisa’s situation soon began to deteriorate. From December to March, Mr. Guo and virtually his entire management team resigned with little explanation.

那之後不久，佳兆業的狀況就開始惡化。從去年12月到今年3月，郭英成和他的幾乎整個管理團隊相繼辭職，鮮有解釋。

In February, the company reported that it had $10.4 billion in debt, far more than it had previously acknowledged in public filings. The company said on March 31 that it would delay the release of its quarterly earnings report. Struggling to meets its obligations, Kaisa is trying to restructure its debt with bondholders, which include big Western investors like BlackRock.

今年2月，佳兆業通報稱負債104億美元，遠超其之前在公開文件中承認的水平。該公司在3月31日表示，將推遲發佈季度收益報告。無力履行義務的佳兆業，正視圖與包括貝萊德(BlackRock)等西方大投資者在內的債券持有者一起，對債務進行重組。

Since resigning, Mr. Guo, who goes by the Hong Kong name Kwok Yingshing, has disappeared from public view. Several analysts and lawyers had said that Mr. Guo was living in Hong Kong, which is a separate legal jurisdiction from China, and that he had refused to return to the mainland to face the company’s legal troubles.

辭職後，郭英成從公衆視線中消失了。幾名分析人士和律師表示郭英成生活在香港，並稱他不願回大陸面對公司在法律上的問題。香港的司法管轄權獨立於中國大陸。

Analysts say Mr. Guo’s return makes it unclear who is in control of the company: the Guo family, which still holds 49 percent; Sunac, which is vying to acquire that stake; or Sino-Life, the second-largest shareholder.

分析人士稱，郭英成的迴歸讓誰掌控着該公司這個問題變得撲朔迷離：是依然持股49%的郭氏家族，還是正在極力收購那49%的股份的融創，亦或是該公司的第二大股東生命人壽。

Sino-Life has been playing an increasingly instrumental role. When the crisis began to unfold last year, Sino-Life stepped in and purchased a sizable chunk of shares from the Guo family.

生命人壽扮演的角色越來越重要。當這場危機在去年開始顯現時，生命人壽便介入其中，並從郭氏家族手中購買了相當大一部分股份。

The insurer has only further cemented its ties with Mr. Guo in recent months. Earlier this year, Sino-Life and its chairman quietly bought shares that Mr. Guo and Kaisa affiliates owned in National Trust, a Beijing-based company that was once partly controlled by the relatives of the former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

最近幾個月，這家保險公司更是進一步鞏固了與郭英成的關係。今年早些時候，生命人壽及其董事長悄悄買下了郭英成和佳兆業的子公司在國民信託的股份。國民信託是一家北京公司，一度被前總理溫家寶的親屬部分控制。

A spokesman for National Trust denied last month that Mr. Guo and the Kaisa affiliates had held a big stake in the company. But corporate shareholder records show the stakes were acquired in late 2014 and then sold to Sino-Life early this year.

上月，國民信託的發言人否認郭英成和佳兆業的附屬公司持有該公司的大量股份。但企業股東記錄顯示，相關股份在2014年年底購得，後在今年年初被出售給了生命人壽。

With the recent loan from Sino-Life, Kaisa can also move forward with its development plans. The money will help Kaisa pay for a land deal in Shenzhen, an acquisition made jointly with Sino-Life.

有了最近從生命人壽獲得的貸款，佳兆業還能推進自己的開發計劃。這筆錢將幫助佳兆業爲深圳的一筆土地交易付款。那是佳兆業與生命人壽聯合達成的一項收購交易。

Analysts say the deals with Sino-Life add to the evidence that Mr. Guo might be moving to regain control of the company and brand he helped create.

分析人士稱，與生命人壽的交易進一步證明，郭英成可能正在採取行動，以期重新獲得對自己參與創立的公司和品牌的控制權。

“The return of Guo Yingcheng suggests the Guo family might not sell stakes to Sunac,” said Zhou Chuanyi, a credit analyst at Lucror Analytics, an independent credit research firm in Singapore.

“郭英成的迴歸表明，郭氏家族可能不會把股份賣給融創，”新加坡獨立信貸研究機構Lucror Analytics的信貸分析師周傳一（音）說。