外國收購美國企業交易激增

An Obama administration crackdown on “tax inversion” deals, which allowed US companies to cut tax bills, has prompted a sharp rise in foreign takeovers of American groups.

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奧巴馬(Obama)政府打擊“稅收倒置”(tax inversion)交易的舉動，導致外資收購美國企業的數量激增。稅收倒置使得美國企業能夠降低稅負。

The US Treasury in September all but stamped out tax inversions, which enabled US companies to pay less tax by buying a rival from a jurisdiction with a lower corporate tax rate, such as Ireland or the UK, and moving the combined group’s domicile to that country. The move was designed to staunch an exodus of US companies and an erosion in tax revenues but has left many American groups vulnerable to foreign takeovers. Once a cross-border deal is complete, the combined company can generate savings by adopting the overseas buyer’s lower tax rate. There have been $156bn of inbound cross-border US deals announced since the crackdown, compared with $106bn in the same period last year and $81bn a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data.

去年9月，美國財政部幾乎杜絕了所有稅收倒置交易。這類交易使得美國企業能夠通過購買企業稅率較低司法轄區（比如愛爾蘭或英國）內的一家競爭對手、並將合併後集團註冊地移往該司法轄區來降低稅負。美國財政部的舉措是爲了遏止美國企業出走潮及稅收收入流失，但也致使很多美國企業容易被外資收購。一旦跨境交易完成，合併後的公司可通過採用海外買家所適用的較低稅率來節省開支。湯森路透(Thomson Reuters)數據顯示，自打擊稅收倒置行動開展以來，有關方面宣佈的入境跨國收購美國企業的交易額已達1560億美元，相比之下，上年同期交易額爲1060億美元、再上一年同期則爲810億美元。

The biggest buyers have come from countries with lower tax rates such as Canada and Ireland, which have announced $26bn and $22bn of deals respectively. Before the crackdown, groups from Germany and Japan were the biggest buyers of US companies. Foreign buyers have announced $61bn worth of US acquisitions this year, an increase of 31 per cent on last year and the strongest start to a year for inbound cross-border deals since 2007, according to the data.

最大的收購方來自稅率較低的國家，比如分別宣佈達成260億美元和220億美元交易的加拿大與愛爾蘭。在打擊行動開始之前，德國和日本企業是美國企業的最大收購方。數據顯示，今年迄今外國買家宣佈達成的收購美國企業的交易價值610億美元，同比增長31%，堪稱2007年以來入境跨國交易最強勁的開局。

When the Obama administration changed the rules on tax inversions, bankers and politicians warned that it would not stop the exodus of companies from the US unless it was accompanied by a cut in the headline rate of US corporation tax, which stands at 35 per cent. However, gridlock in Washington has made it very difficult to overhaul the tax code.

在奧巴馬政府修改稅收倒置的規定時，銀行家及政治人士曾警告稱，除非輔以下調美國企業稅整體稅率（目前爲35%），否則此舉阻止不了美國企業出走。然而，華盛頓出現的僵局使得其很難徹底修訂稅法。

Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, said the jump in foreign takeovers “shows that one-off solutions instead of tax reform simply won’t work”.

俄亥俄州共和黨參議員羅伯•波特曼(Rob Portman)稱，外資收購美國企業的數量激增“表明，通過一次性解決方案而非稅收改革來解決問題根本行不通”。