華爾街併購交易上演黑暗一日

Tuesday, August 5, 2014 is likely to go down as one of the darkest days in the tempestuous history of Wall Street’s mergers and acquisitions market.

2014年8月5日星期二，這一天很可能會成爲華爾街併購市場紛亂歷史中最黑暗的一天。

In the space of a few fraught hours, deals worth $120bn collapsed, sending shock waves through the stock market and sparking concern about the sustainability of a transaction boom that has gathered pace since the start of the year.

在令人懊惱的短短几個小時之內，價值1200億美元的併購交易不翼而飛，由此產生的衝擊波傳遍了股市，令人們不禁擔心：自年初開始持續升溫的併購交易熱潮還能否持續。

First to go down was 21st Century Fox’s $71bn attempt to buy Time Warner. The media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch blamed the death of the deal on Time Warner’s failure “to explore an offer which was highly compelling”.

第一宗取消的交易是21世紀福克斯公司(21st Century Fox)對時代華納(Timer Warner)規模爲710億美元的收購。這家由魯伯特•默多克(Rupert Murdoch)控股的媒體公司將該交易的失敗原因歸結於時代華納未能“仔細考察一下原本極具吸引力的開價”。

The announcement, coming just three weeks after Mr Murdoch made public his interest, bought an abrupt end to a takeover battle that many had expected to last for months.

該聲明的發佈爲一場許多人以爲會持續數月的收購大戰畫上了句號，而實際上距離默多克公開其收購意願只有三週。

Within minutes of the news breaking, theories as to what had “really” caused the hard-charging media baron to walk away were flying. Investors, too, were ill prepared and sent shares in Time Warner down 11 per cent in after-hours trading. By contrast, Fox’s shares, which had declined steadily since it made its offer, rose 6.7 per cent.

這一新聞爆出之後，對這位強硬媒體大亨退出該交易“真實”原因的種種解讀在幾分鐘內就傳遍市場。投資者對此也毫無準備，致使時代華納的股價在盤後交易中大幅下跌11%。與此相反，儘管福克斯在提出收購要約後股價一直在穩步下跌，消息傳出後其股價卻上升了6.7%。

Two hours later, and with New York beginning its descent into a sticky summer night, rumours started to emerge that Sprint, the mobile phone operator controlled by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, had walked away from its own multibillion-dollar bid to acquire rival carrier T-Mobile US.

兩小時後，就在溼熱的夏夜降臨紐約之際，市場中開始出現新的傳聞。傳聞表示，日本億萬富翁孫正義(Masayoshi Son)控股的移動電話運營商Sprint已撤出了對其對手、運營商T-Mobile美國(T-Mobile US)數十億美元的競購。

In this case, though, the collapse was less a result of bad dialogue than it was political resistance.

不過，該案例中交易的失敗與其說是出於溝通不暢，不如說是政治阻力所致。

In spite of never formally launching an offer, Mr Son has faced staunch opposition from regulators over the anti-trust issues arising from a deal that would have merged the US’s third- and fourth-largest mobile phone operators.

儘管從未發出正式收購要約，對於這樣一宗會把美國第三大和第四大移動電話運營商合併的交易，孫正義還是因反壟斷問題遭遇了監管機構的堅決反對。

His patience – and perhaps stomach – for that fight finally ebbed during the past few days, ending a hypothetical battle with Washington that has dragged on since late last year. The decision to do so wiped 15 per cent from Sprint’s market value, while shares in T-Mobile US fell 9 per cent.

他對（與監管方）抗爭的耐心（或許應該說是慾望）終於在過去幾天裏消散，從而結束了自去年底拖延至今的這場與華盛頓間假想中的抗爭。這一決定抹去了Sprint 15%的市值，而T-Mobile美國的股票則下跌了9%。

To further complicate matters, it emerged earlier on Tuesday that T-Mobile US was preparing to formally reject an unsolicited $15bn bid for part of the company from French mobile phone operator Iliad.

令局面愈發複雜的是，週二早些時候有消息傳出，T-Mobile美國正準備正式拒絕法國移動電話運營商伊利亞特(Iliad)主動提出的收購要約。後者打算斥資150億美元收購前者部分股份。

Accompanying these blockbuster failures, there were sideshows.

除了這些重磅炸彈，市場中還有一些令人失望的“墊場戲”。

Walgreens, the US drug store chain, is poised on Wednesday to push ahead with its well trailed $10bn acquisition for the rest of Alliance Boots, the UK pharmacy that it bought a majority stake in last year.

週三，美國藥品連鎖店沃爾格林(Walgreens)正隨時準備推進對英國藥店聯合博姿(Alliance Boots)剩餘股份的買入。這一100億美元的併購交易目前進展順利，去年該公司就已買入聯合博姿多數股份。

Crucially, however, the US company is expected not to use the transaction to re-domicile its headquarters to Europe – a move known as a tax inversion. By moving away from the US’s high corporate tax rate, Walgreens would have saved billions of dollars. But the company has bowed to intense political rather than investor pressure. Its shares fell 4.2 per cent.

然而，關鍵在於這家美國公司預計不會借這次併購交易將總部遷往歐洲——這是一種衆所周知的“稅收倒置(tax inversion)”手段。沃爾格林本可以以此規避美國過高的企業稅率，省下數十億美元。然而它卻選擇屈從於強大的政治壓力而不是投資者的壓力。爲此，它的股價下跌了4.2%。

Not to miss out on the negative news flow for deal-making, the US Treasury reiterated its dislike of tax inversions, adding to a growing sense on Wall Street that Washington is going to act sooner rather than later to legislate against what has proved a deal-making catalyst this year.

此外，我們也不應錯過在促成交易方面的負面新聞：美國財政部(Treasury)重申了對“稅收倒置”行爲的反對態度。目前，華爾街(Wall Street)日益強烈地感受到，美國政府將會盡早而不是更晚一些採取行動，立法阻止“稅收倒置”行爲——這種方式已在今年被證明是促成併購交易的催化劑。而財政部的表態則令這種感覺愈發強烈。

Tuesday also marked something of a bloodbath in the billionaires’ club.

此外，週二億萬富翁俱樂部的大面積悲劇也令人印象深刻。

Mr Murdoch and Mr Son, both seasoned winners in M&A, looked on as months of work – and with it some not insignificant reputational capital – evaporated. Stefano Pessina, the Italian billionaire and chairman of Alliance Boots, had been linked with a more senior role at Walgreens if the inversion went ahead. That now looks to be off the agenda. Meanwhile, Xavier Niel, the French tycoon who controls Iliad, is expected to find himself formally thwarted on Wednesday in a bid he made less than a week ago.

兩名併購老手默多克和孫正義眼睜睜地看着幾個月的工作付之東流，一同打水漂的還包括部分決非無關緊要的名譽資本。意大利億萬富翁、聯合博姿董事長斯特法諾•佩希納(Stefano Pessina)一直被許以在沃爾格林的極高職位——如果避稅開展下去的話。與此同時，控股伊利亞特的法國大亨沙維爾•尼爾(Xavier Niel)預計也會在週三發現，他在不到一週前提出的要約正式遭遇挫敗。

That so much could turn sour in a single day is unusual but perhaps timely.

一天之內上演這麼多反轉戲碼，確實非比尋常，不過這一天也許來得十分及時。

The M&A market has soared during the past six months, with the value of deals globally passing $2tn in July – the earliest point in the year it has done so since 2007. But even before the day of failed deals, there were questions about how long such a run would last, with Washington’s revulsion of tax inversions further damping animal spirits.

過去6個月裏併購市場已大幅擴張，到7月份全球併購交易的規模突破了2萬億美元——這是2007年以來最快達到這一規模的一年。然而即便是在充滿失敗交易的這天以前，在美國政府對“稅收倒置”的厭惡情緒進一步壓制市場的“動物精神(animal spirits)”之際，仍有人在問這波熱潮將持續多久。

Yet such are the vicissitudes of the M&A market that news of a fresh mega deal could easily swing sentiment back to positive and help salve the wounds of a traumatic Tuesday on Wall Street.

不過，併購市場的波動就是這樣，新的大規模交易的消息會輕而易舉地令市場情緒樂觀起來，並幫助撫平華爾街“黑色星期二”造成的傷痛。