錯失阿里IPO 港交所促修改上市規定

Hours after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. kicked off the process for an IPO in New York, the head of the Hong Kong stock exchange, once the front-runner for the deal, urged regulators to allow changes of rules to accommodate new listings

就在電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)啓動紐約首次公開募股(IPO)程序後幾個小時，香港交易及結算所有限公司(Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., 簡稱：香港交易所)行政總裁李小加(Charles Li)便敦促監管者們允許修改上市規定以適應新的交易。香港交易所曾經是阿里巴巴最可能上市的地點。

The loss of e-commerce giant Alibaba comes after months of gridlock at the exchange's owner, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. and its regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, over adapting rules to suit a proposal by Alibaba that partners in the company continue to nominate the majority of the board even after the company is listed. Such a structure, giving the founding partners control of the board, would violate Hong Kong's existing 'one shareholder, one vote' rules.

幾個月前，香港交易所及其監管機構香港證券及期貨事務監察委員會（簡稱：香港證監會）在是否根據阿里巴巴的提議調整上市規定方面陷入僵局。阿里巴巴提出在公司上市後其合夥人仍有權提名董事會多數成員，這一股權結構將賦予公司合夥創始人控制董事會的權利，違反了香港目前“同股同權”的規定。

While Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchange, defended the decision not to compromise over the demands of one company, he warned that unless rules are changed, the territory will lose out in the race to list companies that are proposing alternative shareholder structures. He didn't say how the rules ought to be changed, but argued that the process of reaching a consensus among market participants ought to begin.

儘管李小加對香港交易所不向單一公司所提要求妥協的決定加以辯護，但他也告誡說，除非修改相關規定，否則在爭取要求採用其他股權結構上市的公司方面，香港將敗下陣來。他並未說明規定應如何修改，但主張應當啓動在市場人士中達成共識的程序。

'Insisting on your principle is never without cost,' Mr. Li said in an interview. 'But we have to continue to innovate and dare to have the courage to reform, have the courage to do what is right, and to the extent we need to make the changes to anything we will do it,' he said.

他在接受採訪時說，堅持原則從來不會沒有成本，但香港必須要繼續創新，敢於改革，敢於做正確的事情，只要有必要，無論什麼程度的變革都義無反顧。

Talks on a Hong Kong listing for Alibaba fell apart last September. Since then, Mr. Li has advocated for rule changes. The overhaul process has failed to get off the ground, and people involved appear divided about what rules need to be amended.

有關阿里巴巴在香港上市的談判去年9月份破裂。從那時起，李小加就倡導修改上市規定。但修改程序未能啓動，相關人士對於需修改哪些規定的看法似乎存在分歧。

Mr. Li said he expected Alibaba to choose New York. 'This is not a surprise,' he said. 'I'm glad they finally made a decision.'

李小加說，他預料到阿里巴巴會選擇在紐約上市。他稱，這並不意外。他很高興阿里巴巴終於做出了決定。

The loss of Alibaba came as the exchange missed out on a wave of Chinese tech IPOs. Nine of the 10 biggest IPOs by Chinese Internet-related companies since 2009 have been in the U.S., according to data provider Dealogic. Under Mr. Li, the exchange has focused on commodities and derivatives and has continued to capture the lion's share of listings by mainland Chinese companies. It has several big IPOs in its pipeline.

香港交易所已錯過了中國科技公司的一波IPO浪潮，阿里巴巴只是其中之一。據數據提供商Dealogic統計，2009年以來中國互聯網公司十宗最大規模IPO中有九宗發生在美國。在李小加的領導下，香港交易所以大宗商品和衍生品爲業務重點，同時繼續吸引中國大量內地公司赴港上市。目前有幾宗規模較大的IPO正等待在該交易所進行。

Some members of the committee charged with reviewing the exchange's rules say they favored accommodating Alibaba, but others say they felt that any changes would be seen as a weakening of the rule of law in the former British territory, which is part of China but retains its own legal system. The concern is that Hong Kong's status as a global financial center could be eroded by the perception that rules could be changed to suit a powerful player, in particular the Chinese government.

負責審覈香港交易所規則的委員會中的幾名成員說，他們贊成修改規則，接納阿里巴巴上市。但其他成員說，他們感覺修改規則會被認爲是對香港法治的削弱。香港曾爲英國殖民地，現在是中國的一部分，但仍保留自己的法律制度。外界目前關切的是，香港作爲全球金融中心的地位可能會受到這樣一種看法的影響，即香港可爲適應強有力的角色而改變規則，特別是當這個角色爲中國政府的時候。

'A one-off waiver just because of Alibaba's status would send a pretty bad message regarding the rule of law,' said one person familiar with the regulator process. 'A more general regulatory change was never going to happen quickly.'

一名瞭解香港監管程序的人士表示，如果僅因爲阿里巴巴的重要性就對它網開一面，那就會傳遞出一個不利於法治的糟糕信息。該人士稱，較大規模的監管法規修改永遠不會一蹴而就。

Other people involved in the regulatory process say that even if Alibaba and the stock exchange had reached an agreement, they wouldn't have been able to convince the SFC that listing rules need to be changed. 'They have not fallen foul of the stock exchange, they have fallen foul of the SFC,' another person familiar with the matter said of Alibaba.

其他一些熟悉香港監管程序的人士說，儘管阿里巴巴和香港交易所達成過一項協議，但也沒法說動香港證監會，使其相信應修改上市規則。另一位知情人士在談到阿里巴巴時稱，該公司並沒有和香港交易所不歡而散，而是和香港證監會鬧得不愉快。

Alibaba expressed frustration at the rule-making process last fall. Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, the company co-founder who has been leading the IPO effort, said in a post on Alibaba's website that Hong Kong--which he called Alibaba's 'natural' first choice--must address 'whether it is ready to look forward as the rest of the world passes it by.'

阿里巴巴去年秋曾表達過對香港規則修改程序的失望。該公司聯合創始人、董事局執行副主席、負責此次IPO事宜的蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)在阿里巴巴的網站上發文稱，香港“自然”是阿里巴巴IPO的首選地。他說，香港必須處理好的問題是，是否要在被其它地方趕超後才準備向前邁進。

Alibaba has repeatedly said that it is determined to keep its partnership structure.

阿里巴巴已反覆表示，決心堅持公司的合夥人制度。

In October, Alibaba received written confirmation from the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market that this sort of structure wouldn't be an obstacle for a U.S. listing.

去年10月，阿里巴巴收到了紐約證券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)和納斯達克市場(Nasdaq Stock Market)的書面確認函。二者均表示，阿里巴巴的這種結構不會成爲赴美上市的障礙。

'We respect the viewpoints and policies of Hong Kong and will continue to pay close attention to and support the process of innovation and development of Hong Kong,' Alibaba said in a statement Sunday.

阿里巴巴週日發表聲明說：“我們尊重香港現時的相關政策和出發點，並將會一如既往地關注和支持香港的創新與發展。”

The SFC declined to comment.

香港證監會不予置評。

Mr. Li has also taken heat for the 2012 takeover of the London Metal Exchange for US$2.16 billion, a price some analysts said was too high. The business has continued to drag on profits as the exchange spends millions on improving its technology. The LME is also fighting class-action lawsuits over the amount of time it takes to have metal shipped out of warehouses licensed by the exchange.

李小加還曾因爲香港交易所2012年斥資21.6億美元收購倫敦金屬交易所(London Metal Exchange, 簡稱LME)的交易而受到關注，分析師認爲這個收購價格太高。該業務持續給香港交易所的利潤帶來拖累，主要因爲改進LME技術的耗資達數百萬。與此同時，LME還在面臨集體訴訟，該訴訟與LME授權倉庫的出貨等候時間有關。

Still, targeting commodities trading will ultimately pay off, said Matthew Smith, an analyst at Macquarie Securities.

然而麥格理證券(Macquarie Securities)的分析師史密斯(Matthew Smith)說，瞄準商品交易最終是會取得成功的。

'Is it strategically wrong to try to embrace commodities when you are sitting on the doorstep of the world's key growth driver for commodities consumption? I would say no--strategically it makes sense,' he said.

他表示，當你處在全球商品消費關鍵增長引擎的大門口這個位置，從戰略上看瞄準商品市場是錯誤的嗎？我的答案是否定的，從戰略上看，這是合理的。

The exchange's stock-listing business won't be hurt too badly by Alibaba's decision to go to New York. Fees from new listings account for about 15% of revenue, and a rush late last year--the fourth quarter was the busiest on record--helped deliver an 11% profit increase for 2013.

阿里巴巴決定赴紐約上市不會給香港交易所的股票上市業務帶來太大負面影響。新股上市費用收入佔該公司總收入的15%左右，去年底的上市潮――第四季度上市交易數量達到創紀錄水平――幫助推動香港交易所的利潤增長了11%。

But those listings were weighted toward Chinese banks seeking capital to shore up their balance sheets against expected losses, rather than fast-growing tech companies, which were gravitating toward New York. Analysts said the exchange will need to send signals that it is open to considering alternative proposals.

但這些上市的新股主要是尋求提振資產負債狀況以抵禦預期損失的中資銀行，而非增長迅速的科技公司，後者受到紐約市場的吸引。分析師說，香港交易所將需要發出這樣的信號，即對於考慮替代方案持開放態度。

'Clearly if this prevents other listings of its kind, then that could be a problem in future,' Marcus Liu, an analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, said of the Hong Kong exchange's listing rules.

里昂證券亞太區市場(CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets)的分析師Marcus Liu在談到香港交易所的上市規定時說，顯然如果其規定對其他此類公司的上市構成阻礙，那麼這可能會在未來成爲一個問題。

Hong Kong was the world's No. 2 IPO market in 2013, ranking behind the New York Stock Exchange, according to Dealogic, as it bouced back after slipping to fourth place in 2012. For the previous three years, it had ranked first.

據Dealogic的數據，2013年香港是全球第二大IPO市場，僅次於紐約證交所，從2012年第四的位置回升。在2012之前的三年，香港一直是全球第一大IPO市場。

The exchange has made a strong start in 2014 by attracting a number of high-profile new-share offerings. Coming up, WH Group, which under its former name Shuanghui International bought U.S. pork producer Smithfield last year, is set to raise US$5 billion in April. And the listing of tycoon Li Ka-shing's A.S. Watson & Co retail operation is expected to raise billions.

香港交易所在2014年強勢開局，吸引了許多備受關注的新股上市交易。萬州國際(WH Group)將於4月份通過在香港的IPO籌資50億美元。萬州國際此前名爲雙匯國際(Shuanghui International Holdings)，該公司在更名前於去年收購了美國豬肉生產商Smithfield。此外，預計香港大亨李嘉誠麾下的零售業務屈臣氏集團有限公司(A.S. Watson & Co)將通過香港IPO籌資數十億美元。