安邦開價128億美元欲收購海外酒店集團
Around two years ago, the Anbang Insurance Group, an insurer then little known outside of China, announced that it would buy the fabled Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion.
大約兩年前，安邦保險集團宣佈將斥資19.5億美元，收購傳奇性的華爾道夫-阿斯托里亞酒店(Waldorf Astoria)，那時，這家保險公司在中國境外還鮮爲人知。
Now, the Chinese insurer hopes to expand its hotel empire with an unsolicited bid to acquire Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, the operator of the hotel brands Westin, W and Sheraton, for $76 a share in cash, or $12.8 billion in total.
現在，這家中國保險集團希望擴大其酒店帝國的規模，主動提出以每股76美元、總計128億美元的價格，現金收購威斯汀(Westin)、W和喜來登(Sheraton)等酒店品牌的運營商喜達屋酒店及度假村國際集團(Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide)。
A consortium of investors, led by Anbang, is hoping to derail Starwood’s $10.8 billion cash-and-stock merger with Marriott International that is set to be considered by shareholders of both hotel operators this month.
一個由安邦牽頭的投資者財團，試圖來給萬豪國際(Marriott International)與喜達屋的併購交易攪局。該交易金額爲108億美元，支付方式爲現金加股票，定於本月由雙方公司的股東進行考慮。
The other bidders in the competing consortium, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions, include J. Christopher Flowers’ buyout firm, J.C. Flowers Company, and the Primavera Capital Group, whose chairman, Fred Hu, is the former chairman of Goldman Sachs for China.
一名知情人士透露，在這個競購喜達屋的財團中，包括J·克里斯多夫·弗拉沃斯(J. Christopher Flowers)的收購公司J.C. Flowers Company，以及春華資本集團(Primavera Capital Group)，其董事長鬍祖六曾是高盛(Goldman Sachs)在中國的董事長。
The cash offer by Anbang and its investment partners is the latest in a wave of overseas deal-making by Chinese companies. So far this year, Chinese companies have announced $81.9 billion worth of foreign deals, compared with just $10.55 billion in the same period a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.
安邦及其投資夥伴提出的現金收購，是中國企業這波境外交易中的最新一起。湯森路透(Thomson Reuters)的數據顯示，今年以來，中國公司已經宣佈了819億美元的境外交易，而去年同期只有105.5億美元。
Anbang’s pursuit of Starwood follows fast on the heels of reports that the Chinese company has agreed to acquire Strategic Hotels and Resorts from the Blackstone Group in a deal valued at $6.5 billion just months after Blackstone bought the company.
安邦尋求收購喜達屋之前，剛剛纔傳出了它達成協議將斥資65億美元收購黑石集團(Blackstone Group)旗下戰略酒店及度假村(Strategic Hotels and Resorts)的消息。黑石集團購入該酒店也纔不過數月。
Strategic Hotels owns the Four Seasons hotels and resorts in Silicon Valley, Washington and Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Fairmont and Intercontinental hotels in Chicago and the JW Marriott Essex House hotel in Manhattan.
戰略酒店擁有硅谷、華盛頓、懷俄明州傑克遜霍爾的四季酒店(Four Seasons)，芝加哥的費爾蒙(Fairmont)與洲際(Intercontinental)酒店，曼哈頓的JW萬豪埃塞克斯之家酒店(JW Marriott Essex House Hotel)。
Anbang, led by its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, has been an aggressive deal maker in recent years. Mr. Wu is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, China’s former top leader who oversaw the opening of the Chinese economy to capitalism and investment from foreign companies.
最近幾年來，在董事長吳小暉的帶領下，安邦開展了一些大手筆的交易。吳小暉是鄧小平的外孫女婿。擔任中國最高領導人期間，鄧小平主持了中國經濟對資本主義和外商投資的開放。
In addition to its deal for Waldorf Astoria, Anbang, which is based in Beijing, has also bought an American insurer, Fidelity Guaranty Life Insurance, for nearly $1.6 billion, and a controlling stake in a South Korean life insurer. Last year, it also unsuccessfully offered to buy a Portuguese lender.
安邦總部設在北京，除了華爾道夫酒店的交易之外，它還斥資近16億美元收購了美國信保人壽保險公司(Fidelity Guaranty Life Insurance Company)，並獲得了一家韓國壽險公司的控股權。去年，它出價收購一家葡萄牙貸款機構，但未成功。
Anbang got its start as a car insurer supported in part by the SAIC Motor Corporation, China’s largest automaker. A decade ago, it was a small operator compared with China’s big state-owned insurance companies.
安邦最初是從汽車保險起家的，它得到了中國最大的汽車生產商上汽集團的支持。10年前，與中國的大型國有保險公司相比，它還是一家小企業。
But the company broadened its operations to sell investment products and other services and has increasingly made aggressive bets. It was helped by the Chinese government’s move in recent years to give Chinese insurers greater freedom to invest their money, making them major players in real estate and other areas in China.
但安邦擴大了業務範圍，開始出售投資產品和其他一些服務，並且日益激進地押注一些項目。中國政府近年來放寬限制，允許境內保險公司更加自由地投資自己的資金，於是這些公司成了中國房地產等領域的主要參與者。
The consortium’s cash offer, which was made on March 10 and announced publicly by Starwood on Monday, represents a significant premium to Marriott’s deal, which has been affected by a decline in the hotel operator’s stock price since it was announced in November.
該財團的現金收購要約是在3月10日提出的，喜達屋本週一公佈了此事。比起與萬豪的交易，這是一個大幅溢價。自從去年11月宣佈與萬豪的交易以來，喜達屋的股價下跌，影響了這宗交易。
Starwood said on Monday that its board had not changed its recommendation in support of the Marriott deal, but that it would carefully consider the outcome of its discussions with the consortium led by Anbang to determine the course of action that is in the “best interest of Starwood and its stockholders.”
喜達屋週一表示，董事會沒有改變支持萬豪交易的建議，但會認真考慮與安邦牽頭的財團之間討論的結果，以便確定符合“喜達屋及其股東的最佳利益”的行動方向。
Starwood said that it had received a waiver from Marriott to allow it to engage in discussions and due diligence with the consortium. The waiver expires on Thursday.
喜達屋表示，它已收到了來自萬豪的免責聲明，使其能夠開展與該財團的討論並對其進行盡職調查。免責聲明將於本週四到期。
Marriott described the rival takeover approach to Starwood as “highly conditional and nonbinding.”
萬豪表示，這個競爭對手對喜達屋的收購方式“有很高的條件門檻，不具約束力”。
“Marriott will monitor this development as it and Starwood continue to work toward the closing of its transaction and the successful integration of the two companies,” Marriott said in a news release.
“萬豪將一邊關注這方面的發展，一邊繼續與喜達屋共同推動交易的完成，向兩家公司的成功整合邁進，”萬豪在新聞稿中表示。
Shareholders of Starwood and Marriott are set to vote on whether to approve the merger on March 28. Marriott would receive a termination fee of $400 million if Starwood were to back out of the deal.
喜達屋和萬豪的股東定於3月28日投票，決定是否批准這宗併購。如果喜達屋退出交易，萬豪將獲得4億美元的終止費。
The deal with Marriott would create the world’s largest hotel company, with more than 5,500 owned or franchised hotels, for a total of 1.1 million rooms around the world.
併購如果成功，它將成爲全球最大的酒店集團，旗下有逾5500家直營或特許經營酒店，在世界各地共有110萬個房間。
Based on the 20-day volume weighted average of Marriott’s stock, the merger would be valued at $63.74 a Starwood share, including a cash consideration of $2 a share, Starwood said on Monday.
喜達屋本週一表示，根據萬豪股票20天成交量加權平均價，喜達屋在併購中的估值是每股63.74美元，包括每股2美元的現金對價。
Starwood shareholders would also receive $5.50 a share from the spinoff of its time-share business, Vistana Signature Experiences, and the business’s merger with a subsidiary of the Interval Leisure Group.
喜達屋的股東，也將從該集團的分時度假業務維斯塔納專屬體驗(Vistana Signature Experiences)與分時度假集團(Interval Leisure Group)一個分公司的併購交易中，獲得每股5.5美元的收益。
Anbang is widely seen as benefiting from good relations with leaders in Beijing.
安邦集團被普遍認爲受益於它和北京領導層的良好關係。
Late last year, it also struck an alliance with China Vanke, a Chinese property developer in the middle of a rare corporate takeover battle. The deal, which Vanke said it welcomed, was widely seen as a friendly effort that allowed Vanke management to remain at the helm of the company, China’s largest property developer.
在去年末進行的一場罕見的企業股權爭奪戰中，安邦與中國地產商萬科集團結成了聯盟。萬科歡迎安邦入股，它被廣泛看作是一種友好的舉措，能讓萬科管理層繼續掌控這家中國最大的房地產開發公司。
It is not just Anbang that is increasingly looking abroad.
日益將目光投向海外的，不止安邦這一家公司。
China’s slowing economy has led companies and individuals to take money out of the country and invest it elsewhere. This turnabout from the days when China soaked up much of the world’s money flows has led investors to believe that China’s currency — already weakened in recent months after two sets of devaluations — could fall further. Foreign deals allow Chinese companies to move money abroad with the blessing of Chinese officials while avoiding potentially painful devaluations.
中國經濟增速放緩，導致企業和個人都將資金移出海外，在別處進行投資。之前一直是全世界的資金大批流向中國，如今情況逆轉，致使投資者相信，在最近幾個月經歷兩輪貶值已經走弱的中國貨幣，還會進一步貶值。通過進行海外交易將資金轉移到海外的做法，可以得到中國官方的首肯，同時也讓中國企業避開了有可能帶來麻煩的貨幣貶值。
Those dynamics help explain why Chinese companies are redoubling their efforts to invest abroad despite growing efforts by the Chinese government to keep money at home. China’s foreign currency reserves have fallen to $3.2 trillion in recent months, prompting Beijing to intensify its already tight limits on money flowing across its borders.
這種邏輯可以幫助我們理解，在中國政府不斷加大舉措將資金留在國內的情況下，中國企業爲何卻在加倍進行海外投資。中國的外匯儲備在最近幾個月減少到了32萬億美元。這促使北京進一步加強本已收緊的資金外流限制。
Still, major deals continue to be struck. In the biggest potential Chinese deal for a foreign company, the Swiss agribusiness Syngenta has agreed to be acquired by a state-owned Chinese chemical company, known as ChemChina, for $43 billion.
然而，大宗交易還在不斷達成。瑞士農業綜合企業先正達(Syngenta)接受了一家中國國有化工企業的收購要約，即由中國化工集團以430億美元對它進行收購。這項交易有望成爲中國公司規模最大的一宗海外收購。
