中國海外併購的新年攻勢 China M&A

An ordinary Chinese citizen who wishes to buy assets abroad can exchange only enough renminbi in a year to get $50,000. Fortunately for deal-hungry Chinese companies, they do not suffer the same constraints.

中國公民用人民幣兌換外幣以購買海外資產的上限是每人每年5萬美元。幸運的是，中國的企業交易大戶不受此類限制。

On Friday, Haier bought the General Electric appliance business for $5.4bn in cash. Dalian Wanda, earlier in January, acquired film studio Legendary Entertainment for $3.5bn after sniffing around Hollywood for years looking for content (in 2012 it grabbed cinema chain AMC Entertainment for $3bn). A Chinese group has jumped into the bidding war for Fairchild Semiconductor. And most brazenly, ChemChina is reportedly considering an all-cash bid worth SFr35bn for Syngenta AG. Just a few weeks into 2016, $12bn of Chinese outbound M&A has been announced — a pace that, if maintained, would shatter last year’s record of $112bn. The interest of Chinese companies abroad is natural. As the country has prospered, its companies have grown large enough to chase big targets in more mature markets. Their ability to apply lower operating costs has also enabled them to write bigger cheques.

上週五，海爾(Haier)斥資54億美元現金收購了通用電氣(GE)旗下電器業務。1月的早些時候，大連萬達(Dalian Wanda)以35億美元收購了電影製片公司傳奇娛樂(Legendary Entertainment)，此前萬達多年在好萊塢尋購內容（2012年該集團以30億美元將連鎖影院AMC娛樂收入囊中）。一家中國集團已投入仙童半導體公司(Fairchild Semiconductor)的競購戰。更大膽的是，中國化工(ChemChina)據報道正考慮以現金競購市值350億瑞士法郎的先正達公司(Syngenta AG)。2016年纔開始幾周，中國就公佈了價值120億美元的海外併購——如果保持這一勢頭，全年勢必打破去年1120億美元的紀錄。中國企業對收購海外資產感興趣很自然。隨着中國逐漸變富，中國公司發展到足夠規模，可以追逐更成熟市場的大目標。他們運用更低運營成本的能力，也使他們得以開出鉅額支票。

A decade ago, political and regulatory resistance based on national security concerns was strong (consider failed bids for Unocal, Dubai World Ports and 3Com). And while concerns linger, Chinese companies have become much more sophisticated about navigating Foreign deal processes and other nations have become tolerant of Chinese ownership.

10年前，基於國家安全考慮的政治和監管阻力很大（想想競購優尼科(Unocal)、迪拜世界港口(Dubai World Ports)和3Com公司的失敗）。雖然擔憂仍在，但中國企業在把握海外交易流程方面已變得更加成熟，而其它國家也變得更能容忍中資。

Chinese buying of foreign companies does not always mean renminbi leaving the country. They may have foreign currency available for M&A, or can raise money abroad.

中國公司收購外國企業並不總是意味着人民幣外流。這些公司可能以外幣併購，或者在海外籌集資金。

For Chinese companies using their home currency, however, local banks and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have remained supportive of dealmaking for strategic assets. Some dealmakers note that the country could change its tune at any moment, as erratic monetary policymaking since last summer indicates.

然而，對於使用本國貨幣的中國企業，地方銀行和國家外匯管理局(SAFE)仍會支持其獲取戰略資產的交易。一些交易撮合者指出，中國隨時可能改變政策風向，正如去年夏季以來飄忽不定的貨幣政策制定所顯示的那樣。

But for companies looking to sell, the most capable and confident buyers are coming from the east.

但是對那些正在尋求出售的公司來說，最有實力和信心的買家來自東方。