聯想收購摩托羅拉移動面臨美方嚴審

As the largest Chinese technology deal in the US, Lenovo’s $2.9bn purchase of Motorola’s handset business last week will be closely scrutinised by a US government committee that reviews transactions for national security concerns.

中國在美國規模最大的科技企業併購案——上週聯想(Lenovo)以29億美元收購摩托羅拉(Motorola)手機業務的交易，將面臨美國跨部門機構嚴密的國家安全審查。

As part of the purchase from Google, Lenovo will assume 2,000 patents and receive a licence to other Google smartphone intellectual property, which will be combed through by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (Cfius).

作爲與谷歌(Google)之間收購交易的一部分，聯想將獲得2000項專利以及谷歌其他智能手機知識產權的授權，這些交易內容將受到美國外國投資委員會(Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States，以下簡稱Cfius)的仔細審查。

However, most of the valuable and sensitive patents are being kept by Google, while Motorola’s business that has government contracts is part of another company, people familiar with the matter said. The deal also involves hardware, not software, and Chinese-made handsets, like those manufactured by Huawei, are already sold in the US.

然而，據熟悉該交易的人士稱，絕大多數有價值且敏感的專利仍將由谷歌持有，而摩托羅拉業務中與美國政府有關的合同也歸屬於另一家公司。同時，交易內容只包括硬件而非軟件，同時中國企業製造的手機，例如華爲(Huawei)製造的手機，已經在美國境內銷售。

As a result, Lenovo’s acquisition may not face major challenges though it may have to meet certain conditions requested by Cfius to get approval, people familiar with the matter said.

因此，熟悉內情的人士稱，聯想的收購估計不會面臨重大挑戰，儘管該公司爲了過關可能要滿足Cfius提出的某些條件。

Also, Motorola’s small presence in the US with less than a 5 per cent market share could help Lenovo, though its goal is to increase sales. Concern over whether facilities or offices are close to locations that could raise security worries is not expected to be a big issue.

另外，摩托羅拉在美國市場不足5%的微小份額，也對聯想有利，儘管其目標是提高銷售。而廠房或辦公室位置所引發的安全憂慮預計也不會是太棘手的問題。

One of the unknowns is whether the deal will face significant political opposition, which so far has not arisen but it is early in the process. While Lenovo has successfully navigated the Cfius process in the past, its growing ambitions in the US could make it a bigger political target, especially in the era of Edward Snowden and worries over leaks.

未知因素之一是，這筆交易是否會遭到重大的政治反對。迄今尚未出現此類反對，但交易仍處早期階段。雖然聯想以往曾成功通過Cfius的審查，但該公司對美國市場不斷增強的雄心可能使其成爲一個更大的政治目標，特別是在愛德華·斯諾登(Edward Snowden)和泄密憂慮滿天飛的時代。

The Treasury Department, which oversees Cfius, declined to comment. The committee also includes the Departments of Defence, Homeland Security, Justice and others.

統領Cfius的美國財政部拒絕發表評論。美國外國投資委員會還包括美國國防部、國土安全部、司法部等其它部門。

Lenovo’s Motorola deal comes a week after it announced a $2.3bn acquisition of IBM’s low-end server business, which will also be closely reviewed by Cfius but might not encounter major issues. It is the second Lenovo deal with IBM, coming more than eight years after Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business, including the ThinkPad.

在聯想收購摩托羅拉手機業務的一週前，該公司剛剛宣佈以23億美元收購IBM的低端服務器業務。該項交易也將受到Cfius的嚴密審查，但預計不會遇到太大麻煩。與IBM的服務器交易是繼8年多前，聯想收購該公司包括“Thinkpad”品牌在內的個人電腦業務後的第二單買賣。

Lenovo had to make some compromises to win Cfius clearance for the PC business, including giving up sales to US government customers. Lenovo also secured Cfius approval for two other deals in 2012.

當年爲了贏取Cfius對個人電腦業務收購案的批准，聯想曾做出一些妥協，包括放棄向美國政府客戶銷售產品。2012年，聯想也曾在另外兩筆交易中獲得了Cfius的放行。

That record and the fact that Lenovo is a relatively familiar company in the US should also help it in the Cfius process. But lawmakers are more sensitive to Chinese takeovers, most recently in the sale of pork producer Smithfield Foods to Shuanghui International for $4.7bn.

有了這一記錄，加上聯想在美國是相對爲人熟知的公司，這些因素都有利於聯想通過Cfius的審查程序。但美國議員們對中國收購方比較敏感，最近的例子是雙匯國際(Shuanghui International)以47億美元收購豬肉生產商史密斯菲爾德食品公司(Smithfield Foods)的交易。

It represented the largest Chinese acquisition of a US company, and prompted a bipartisan group of senators to raise concerns about food security and other issues. Still, the Smithfield deal was cleared by Cfius last September.

該項交易是中國公司對美國企業規模最大的收購案，一度引發美國兩黨參議員共同提出對食品安全等問題的擔憂。儘管如此，這筆收購案仍在去年9月得到Cfius審覈通過。