海航因收購失敗在美國面臨訴訟

HNA Group is facing a lawsuit in the US over a failed acquisition, with its takeover target alleging the Chinese conglomerate intentionally gave false information to US authorities and disguised its true ownership structure.

海航集團(HNA Group)因收購失敗在美國面臨訴訟，其收購目標聲稱這家中國綜合企業集團有意向美國當局提供了虛假信息，掩蓋了其真實所有權結構。

US-based software group Ness Technologies filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York against HNA and its Beijing-based IT outsourcing unit Pactera, claiming the Chinese companies caused it material damage by not living up to their agreement.

總部位於美國的軟件集團Ness Technologies在紐約州最高法院(Supreme Court of the State of New York)向海航及其總部位於北京的IT外包公司文思海輝(Pactera)提起訴訟，聲稱這兩家中國公司不履行協議，由此對其造成實質性損害。

Pactera agreed in March to buy Ness’s digital engineering entity, Jersey Holding, for $325m. The Chinese-owned group said regulatory approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, the watchdog that reviews inbound investment for national security risks, was a condition for closing the deal, according to the lawsuit.

今年3月，文思海輝同意以3.25億美元格收購Ness的數字工程實體Jersey Holding。根據訴狀，這家中資集團當時表示，獲得負責審查對美投資國家安全風險的監督機構——美國外國投資委員會(CFIUS)的批准，是完成這筆交易的一個條件。

Ness alleges in the complaint that Pactera and HNA assured it the deal would easily gain approval and agreed to use their “reasonable best efforts” to do so. But following the initial transaction agreement, HNA allegedly “poisoned and prejudiced the Cfius review process”, the complaint says, leading to the deal’s eventual collapse.

Ness在訴狀中聲稱，文思海輝和海航當時向其保證，這筆交易將很容易獲得批准，並同意付出“合理的最大努力”來做到這一點。但是，訴狀稱，在最初的交易協議達成後，海航被指“毒化和蓄意破壞CFIUS審查過程”，導致這筆交易最終泡湯。

Ness did not have a break-fee agreement with HNA and is seeking $65m in damages.

當初未與海航簽訂分手費協議的Ness，尋求6500萬美元的損害賠償金。

The lawsuit is the latest blow for HNA in the wake of a more than $40bn global buying streak in which the Hainan-based company snapped up stakes in Deutsche Bank and Hilton Worldwide.

這起訴訟是海航受到的最新打擊。此前這家總部位於中國海南島的公司在全球進行了400多億美元的資產收購，獲得了德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)和希爾頓全球(Hilton Worldwide)的可觀股份。

In recent weeks HNA has faced difficulties related to its opaque shareholdings, as well as concerns over its access to liquidity and ability to finance acquisitions.

近幾周，海航面臨種種困難，涉及其不透明的股權結構，以及圍繞其流動性渠道和能不能爲收購買單的擔憂。

Last month the Swiss takeover panel said HNA had provided false information when it purchased air-services company Gategroup last year for SFr1.4bn ($1.4bn). Citing a Financial Times article, the panel homed in on declared holdings of two shareholders and called information the company provided “untrue or incomplete”.

上月，瑞士併購委員會(Swiss Takeover Panel)表示，海航去年以14億瑞士法郎（合14億美元）收購航空服務公司佳美集團(Gategroup)時，提供了虛假信息。瑞士併購委員會援引英國《金融時報》的相關報道，聚焦於兩名股東的持股情況，稱海航當時提供的信息“不真實或不完整”。

The Ness complaint alleges considerable wrongdoing on the part of HNA. It says HNA and Pactera “provided demonstrably and knowingly false, inconsistent, and misleading information to Cfius” and then delayed correcting those statements.

按照Ness的指控，海航方面有大量不當行爲。訴狀稱，海航和文思海輝“向CFIUS提供明顯且明知虛假、不一致和誤導性的信息”，然後遲遲不糾正那些陳述。

HNA and Pactera also allegedly “covertly worked to evade and frustrate Cfius’s ability to investigate and review the transaction, including by discussing, planning, orchestrating, and implementing various schemes to disguise the true nature of their organisations, corporate structures, and ownership”, according to the lawsuit.

訴狀稱，海航和文思海輝“暗中致力於逃避和挫敗CFIUS調查和審查交易的能力，包括討論、規劃、策劃和實施各種計謀，以掩飾其組織的真實性質、公司結構和所有權”。

Ness said in the complaint that it had found information provided by Pactera to be inconsistent with details in China’s National Credit Information Publicity System database, which showed that HNA founder Chen Feng and other executives held shares in several of its parent companies that they did not disclose.

Ness在訴狀中表示，此前它發現文思海輝提供的信息與中國國家企業信用信息公示系統(National Credit Information Publicity System)數據庫中的資料不一致，後者顯示海航創始人陳峯等高管持有其幾家母公司的股份，而文思海輝方面沒有披露。

Pactera said the allegations were “without basis”: “Pactera has invested significant amount of time, labor and costs in meeting the CFIUS’ requirements. Despite Pactera’s efforts, Ness Technologies chose to terminate the contract, whilst at the same time making false allegations against Pactera.”.

文思海輝表示，這些指控是“沒有根據的”：“文思海輝投入了大量時間、人力和成本來滿足CFIUS的要求。儘管文思海輝盡了努力，但Ness Technologies公司選擇終止合同，同時作出針對文思海輝的虛假指控。”

The company was founded as a provincial airline in the early 1990s but has grown into a $145bn conglomerate that now controls New Zealand’s largest financial services firm, and holds stakes in aviation services companies and hotels in at least 14 countries.

成立於20世紀90年代初的海航，最初是一家省級航空公司，但現已發展成爲一家1450億美元的集團，控制着新西蘭最大的金融服務公司，並在至少14個國家持有航空服務公司和酒店的股份。

In July, the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the banking watchdog that operates under the European Central Bank, began considering whether to launch an investigation into whether HNA could wield significant influence over Deutsche Bank as its largest shareholder, according to people briefed on the situation, and whether it was fit to do so.

另據知情人士介紹，今年7月，歐洲央行(ECB)下屬的銀行業監管機構——單一監管機制(Single Supervisory Mechanism)開始考慮要不要展開一項調查，關鍵問題是：海航作爲德意志銀行的最大股東，有沒有可能對該行施加重大影響力？它是否適合發揮這種影響力？

HNA’s financial health has come under scrutiny this year after Chinese regulators took steps to stop private companies moving money out of China.

海航的財務健康狀況今年以來受到密切關注，此前中國監管機構採取措施阻止私營企業將資金轉往境外。

However, in an interview with the Financial Times last week the company dismissed concerns about its liquidity, although it acknowledged a year-end credit squeeze as Chinese banks come to the end of their lending quotas.

不過，上週在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時，該公司駁斥了對其流動性的擔憂，儘管它承認存在年末信貸緊張的情況，原因是中國各銀行的放貸額度已經所剩無幾。