HONG KONG — After a customer canceled a large order at the last minute, shares in Aixtron, a German high-tech company, sank fast. 香港——一个客户在最后时刻中止一笔大订单后,德国高科技公司爱思强(Aixtron)的股价很快下降。Months later, with the stock still reeling, a Chinese investor agreed to buy the company.数月后,在其股价仍然萎靡不振之际,一个中国投资者表示同意卖给公司。If only it were as simple as smart deal-making.如果此事感叹这么非常简单,只是有人作出了明智的交易决策就好了。Financial filings and public statements indicate a web of relationships among the customer, the buyer and the Chinese state. 然而,根据递交给金融监管机构的文件及该公司公告表明,那名客户、买家与中国政府之间不存在一个关系网。
The links highlight the blurred lines between increasingly acquisitive Chinese companies and Beijing’s long-term industrial policy.这种关联,突显出胃口更加大的中国企业和北京的长年产业政策之间极为模糊不清的界限。The Aixtron case makes it very clear: It is not regular investment that is at work here, said Sebastian Heilmann, president of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank based in Berlin. 爱思强的例子十分明晰地指出:这并不是常规的投资,在坐落于柏林的智库墨卡托中国研究中心(Mercator Institute for China Studies) 兼任主管的韩博天(Sebastian Heilmann)说道。Instead, we see governmental-program capital working behind the scenes.忽略,我们看见不受政府掌控的资本在幕后充分发挥着起到。
Chinese leaders have made clear their intention of using state funds to acquire technological capabilities overseas and bring them home, and a series of purchases in recent years have highlighted that strategy.中国领导人指出了利用国家基金提供并引进海外技术能力的意图。近年来的一系列并购也凸显了这一策略。That has led to questions about how to treat bids that cross between private investment and state-orchestrated takeovers. It has also fed into broader suspicions about the fate of the takeover targets, and whether national champions will ultimately be absorbed into the supply chain in China.这引起了一个问题:如果契约既牵涉到私人投资,又牵涉到由政府策划的并购,该如何对待?它还引起了关于并购目标未来命运如何的疑惑,以及这些全国性龙头企业最后否不会被划入中国供应链。Aixtron — one of a growing number of European businesses with cutting-edge technologies that have recently been targeted by a surge in Chinese overseas investment — provides a case study.近年来,随着中国在海外引发投资热潮,更加多享有尖端技术的欧洲企业出了它的目标。
作为其中一员,爱思强获取了一个可资研究的案例。A university spinoff, it employs hundreds of highly skilled engineers and has a decades-long history of making the advanced tools needed to make semiconductors. 作为大学派生企业,爱思强雇佣了数百名技能高超的工程师,在生产生产半导体所须要先进设备工具方面享有数十年经验。
Its systems can deposit layers of chemicals just atoms thick that grow the crystals needed to make chips and light-emitting diodes.它的系统可以让化学品展开原子层沉积,由此分解的晶体是生产芯片和发光二极管的必需品。It was facing a broad slowdown in demand in 2015 when San’an Optoelectronics, based in the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, canceled a large order at the last minute.在2015年,中国东部城市厦门的三安光电公司在最后时刻撤消了一笔大订单,这让爱思强遭遇了市场需求全面上升的状况。
The decision sent Aixtron’s share price crashing. 这个要求造成爱思强的股价大幅度下跌。By May of this year, it had agreed to sell itself to a Chinese investment fund, Fujian Grand Chip.到了今年5月,它拒绝接受了中国投资基金福建宏芯的并购契约。
Yet in a twist that shows the conflicting interests that can lurk behind Chinese deals, San’an has a number of connections to Fujian Grand Chip, including a common investor and an existing financial relationship.不过,三安光电和福建宏芯有许多关联,其中牵涉到一名联合投资人和一种既有的财务关系。这表明了涉及中国的交易背后,经常隐蔽着利益冲突。Fujian Grand Chip is 51 percent controlled by Liu Zhendong, a businessman the Mercator Institute said most likely had government connections but was otherwise hard to track. 商人刘振东持有人福建宏芯51%的股份。
墨卡托中心称之为其近于有可能和政府有瓜葛,但这一点无法查出。The rest is held by Xiamen Bohao, a local government investment fund that itself has links to San’an.可控于当地政府的投资基金厦门博灏持有人其余的股份,它本身和三安光电有关。A financial filing showed that at the end of 2014, San’an owed Bohao 300 million renminbi, now worth about $45 million. 递交给金融监管部门的一份文件表明,2014年底,三安光电不出厦门博灏3亿元人民币,约合现在的4500万美元。The following year, another filing showed Bohao owed San’an 240 million renminbi. 次年另一份文件表明,厦门博灏不出三安光电2.4亿元人民币。
While there is no explanation given for the fund flows, they appear to be related to financing provided to San’an by Bohao.尽管文件并未对上述资金流动作出解释,但它们或许和厦门博灏为三安光电获取资金反对有关。There are other links as well. 二者之间还不存在其他一些关联。
Another state-run investment firm based in Xiamen holds stakes in both companies. 厦门的另一家国有投资企业在这两家公司里都持有人股份。And a broader national investment fund is providing a loan facility, through a subsidiary, for the takeover of Aixtron while holding a stake in San’an.此外,一家业务范围更加甚广的全国性投资基金在三安光电持有人股份,于是以通过自己的子公司为并购爱思强获取贷款融通。Just three days after the Aixtron bid was announced, a new company was registered at an address in Quanzhou along the Taiwan Strait. 爱思强收到并购契约的消息宣告仅有3天后,一家新的公司在台湾海峡沿岸城市泉州登记顺利。San’an was an investor in the company, and the address was the same as that listed by Fujian Grand Chip in its Aixtron offer.三安光电是该公司的一个投资方,而公司登记地址,与福建宏芯在并购爱思强的契约文件中入选为的地址完全相同。
The connections do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. 这些关联不一定意味著不存在违规行为。Still, they raise questions about the independence of Chinese companies that have been on a global high-tech spending binge.不过,它们不会让人猜测,正在全球范围内引发高科技投资狂潮的中国企业否具备独立性。It is the goal of Chinese outbound industrial policy programs to replace foreign technology leaders in the medium term — not just in China but also in global export markets, Mr Heilmann said.中国外向型产业政策规划的中期目标,是代替国外的科技龙头企业——不只是在中国,而且是在全球出口市场上,韩博天称之为。He echoed the complaints of American and European officials, who say that while Chinese companies — including those backed by the state — are able to mount takeover bids for companies in the West, the opposite is not typically allowed within China.他的众说纷纭与美国及欧洲官员的责怪互为交织。
美欧官员称,虽然中国企业——还包括那些有政府背景的企业——可以向西方企业发动并购契约,但如果替换成西方企业并购中国企业,在中国则一般来说不被容许。The German economics ministry declined to comment on the Aixtron takeover. 德国经济部拒绝接受就爱人思强收购案置评。Fujian Grand Chip, Bohao and Mr Liu declined to comment. 福建宏芯、厦门博灏及刘振东也拒绝接受置评。
San’an did not respond to a request for comment, but in a statement, Aixtron said San’an canceled its order because its specific qualification requirements were not achieved.三安光电并未恢复置评催促,但爱思强在一份声明中称之为,三安光电之所以中止订单,是因为特定的工艺拒绝无法获得符合。In an August conference call with analysts, Aixtron’s chief executive, Martin Goetzeler, said there no was current investment link between San’an and Fujian Grand Chip, a relationship that was first reported in the German magazine Capital.在8月份的面向分析师的电话会议上,爱思强首席执行官马丁格特策勒(Martin Goetzeler)说道,三安光电和福建宏芯之间目前不不存在投资关系——当初首先报导这种关系的是德国杂志《资本》(Capital)。
Bids for companies like Aixtron reflect a shift in Chinese investment patterns that goes back a number of years.向爱思强这样的公司收到契约,体现出有中国延用多年的投资模式再次发生了改变。Chinese companies bearing checkbooks have generally been welcomed in Europe. 总体来说,手执支票簿的中国公司是受到欧洲青睐的。They have provided a source of fresh capital for ailing European enterprises, like the Swedish carmaker Volvo, the Italian tire maker Pirelli, the French resort operator Club Med, and the port in Piraeus, Greece.它们为境况不佳的欧洲企业,还包括瑞典汽车制造商沃尔沃(Volvo)、意大利轮胎制造商倍耐力(Pirelli)、法国度假区运营商地中海俱乐部(Club Med)和希腊比雷埃夫斯的港口获取了新的资金来源。
But deals over the past two years — which last year hit a record 20 billion euros, or $22.4 billion, according to a survey by Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute — have begun targeting leading-edge companies with crucial technologies and iconic brand names.但过去两年里的交易开始把目标对准享有关键技术和标志性品牌的前沿企业。荣鼎集团(Rhodium Group)和墨卡托中心联合展开的一项调查表明,去年这类交易超过了创纪录的200亿欧元。Anxieties are perhaps most acute in Germany, which has had Aixtron and the well-known robotics company Kuka — whose technology is ubiquitous in German car factories — both go to Chinese bidders this year. 最紧绷的大约是德国。
今年,该国的爱思强和知名机器人公司库卡(Kuka)皆被中国并购。库卡的技术在德国的汽车工厂里随处可见。Largely because of those two deals, Germany has become the largest recipient of Chinese investment in Europe thus far in 2016, according to the Mercator Institute.据墨卡托中心称之为,主要因为这两项交易,德国出了欧洲2016年目前为止仅次于的中国投资接受国。
In the United States, a number of Chinese bids for chip companies have been undone by regulatory concerns. 在美国,中国公司对芯片企业收到的多项契约因监管机构的忧虑而不得不中止。Regulators thwarted an overture by San’an for an American semiconductor company, and the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is reviewing the Aixtron bid.监管机构取消了三安对一家美国半导体公司明确提出的并购建议,美国财政部辖下的美国外国投资委员会(Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States)正在审查对爱思强明确提出的并购契约。By contrast, European laws give politicians few avenues to block acquisitions, though that has not stopped them from trying.相比之下,欧洲的法律完全没有给政界人士获取制止并购的途径,但这未阻碍他们竭力尝试。
President Franois Hollande of France has warned the Chinese hotel group Jin Jiang against trying to acquire a majority in the French hotel chain Accor. 法国总统弗朗索瓦奥朗德(Franois Hollande)警告中国酒店集团锦江不要企图并购法国酒店连锁品牌雅高(Accor)的多数股份。And last month, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain delayed approval of a nuclear power plant because of security concerns about Chinese companies involved. 上月,出于因牵涉到中国公司而产生的安全性忧虑,英国首相兹丽莎梅(Theresa May)延期了一个核电站项目的批准后。(It has since been given the green light.)(该项目现在早已获批。
)In Germany, the takeover of Kuka — frequently cited by politicians as emblematic of the country’s future economic development — has drawn particular attention. 在德国,并购库卡一事引发了尤其的注目。政界人士经常说道此事象征物着德国未来的经济发展。The economics ministry examined the takeover of the company by Midea Group in China, which already owns 95 percent of Kuka shares, but eventually decided the deal did not meet the strict criteria for a formal review.该国经济部对中国美的集团并购库卡一事展开了调查,但最后推断交易并未超过展开月审查须要符合的严苛条件。
美的现享有库卡95%的股份。Beyond politics, concerns also surround the origin of the money supporting Chinese bids.除政治外,反对中国公司收到并购契约的资金的来源也引起了忧虑。
The Aixtron case, in particular, shows how difficult that can be.爱思强收购案特别是在反映了其中的可玩性。Ultimately both San’an, the customer, and Fujian Grand Chip, the buyer, are recipients of government funds earmarked to help China build out its semiconductor capabilities. 无论是爱思强的客户三安,还是买家福建宏芯基金,彻底都是政府资金的接受方,政府此举是为了协助中国发展其半导体实力。While it’s not clear whether the two coordinated in any way, they are a product of a new approach Beijing has taken to develop its semiconductor industry.尽管尚能不确切这两家公司否以某种方式展开了协商,北京为发展其半导体行业而采行了一种新方法,它们都是这一方法的产物。
Previously, China’s government would dole out funds to several well-known state-owned companies. 以前,中国政府不会将资金派发给多家知名的国有企业。Now those funds are being distributed through national and local investment funds, which give them out to, and through, smaller companies like Bohao and San’an.现在,这些资金通过中央和地方投资基金的形式派发,投资基金再行将它们派发给博灏和三安这种较小的公司,或是再行经由它们展开派发。German companies have so far managed to stay ahead of China and other competitors in quality and technology, but there are growing concerns that Chinese companies are catching up.迄今为止,德国公司仍能在品质和技术上领先于中国和其他竞争对手,但民众对中国公司正在迎头赶上的忧虑日益激化。
A lot of people in Germany have massive concerns about Chinese companies taking over leading tech companies, said Daniel Bauer, a spokesman for SdK, a German investor-protection group. 很多德国人对中国公司并购德国知名科技公司十分担忧,德国投资者维护的组织SdK的发言人丹尼尔鲍尔(Daniel Bauer)说道。People fear that foreign investors will just transfer the know-how and have no interest in keeping the facilities.人们担忧外国投资者只不会移往专业技术,有意于保有设施。
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