FT社评：应对中资收购提高标准
2016年，黑石(Blackstone)以55亿美元的价格把在美国拥有16家豪华酒店的战略酒店及度假村(Strategic Hotels & Resorts)卖给了中国保险公司安邦(Anbang)，当时黑石并不用考虑如下风险：战略酒店及度假村可能会成为中国政府的财产。这有点讽刺，因为无论叫什么，酒店企业都不是战略资产。上周的新闻称中国政府已接管了安邦并指控其前董事长吴小晖集资诈骗与职务侵占，对这条新闻，黑石总部的人很可能会满不在乎地耸耸肩。
The question of Chinese takeovers is much more fraught for other companies and, indeed, governments. Also last week, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States blocked a $580m takeover of Xcerra, a semiconductor testing company, by a China-backed investment fund. Cfius has blocked other semiconductor acquisitions by Chinese companies, apparently on the grounds that chip technology has military applications.
对于其他公司还有政府来说，中资收购的问题要令人忧虑得多。同样在上周，美国外国投资委员会(CFIUS)阻止了一家中资背景的投资基金以5.8亿美元的价格收购半导体测试设备商Xcerra。此前美国外国投资委员会阻止了一系列中资企业收购半导体公司，理由显然是芯片技术具有军事用途。
But national security interests in a narrow sense is not the only reason that targets and governments should treat Chinese offers with care. There are at least three others: reciprocity, transparency and data security.
但狭义的国家安全利益并不是目标企业和政府应当谨慎对待中资收购提议的唯一原因。另外三个原因是：对等、透明度及数据安全。
All of the key sectors of China’s own economy — telecoms, cars, the internet, pharmaceuticals, education, media, and others — are either partially or completely closed to foreign acquisitions. When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, its trading partners assumed that the country was on a path towards greater openness in its economy, and Beijing made commitments to this effect. Those commitments have not been fulfilled, and China shows few signs of becoming a market economy. Until the state opens its own markets to foreign takeovers, countries that respond in kind are acting within their rights, and perhaps their interests as well.
中国经济的所有关键部门——电信、汽车、互联网、医药、教育、媒体等——都部分或完全不允许外资收购。2001年中国加入世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization)时，其贸易伙伴以为，该国的经济将一步步开放，中国政府也对此作出了承诺。这些承诺没有兑现，中国也没有表现出多少转变为市场经济的迹象。在中国将其自己的市场面向外资收购开放之前，其他国家有权以其人之道还治其人之身，这样做或许也符合这些国家自身的利益。
China’s corporate sector is the most indebted in the world. Indeed, Anbang seems to have been seized because the government feared it might fail to meet its liabilities, with systemic consequences. At the same time, takeover offers from China’s acquisitive conglomerates — most notably Anbang, Fosun, Dalian Wanda and HNA — often come with little information about the buyer’s balance sheet. This creates the risk that cash will be sucked out of the target once the deal is done, leaving it destabilised. Governments should insist on evidence of buyers’ financial strength before allowing economically important companies to be sold to any buyer, Chinese or otherwise.
中国企业是全世界负债最多的。事实上，安邦之所以被接管，似乎就是因为中国政府担心其也许无法偿还债务，从而产生系统性后果。与此同时，来自中国热衷收购的企业集团——最突出的是安邦、复星(Fosun)、大连万达(Dalian Wanda)和海航(HNA)——的收购要约，常常对买家的资产负债表情况语焉不详。这就产生了这样的风险：一旦交易完成，现金就会被抽离出收购目标，导致其处于不稳定状态。各国政府在允许具有重要经济意义的公司被出售给无论是中国还是其他地方的任何买家前，都应坚持让买家出具证明其财务实力的材料。
Finally, China is an autocracy, where relations between corporations and the state are very close. Any deal where the target company holds significant personal data about its customers deserves special scrutiny.
最后，中国是一个专制国家，企业与政府间的关系非常密切。只要交易中的被收购企业持有客户的重要个人信息，就应该对交易严加审查。
China is a rising economic superpower with a huge savings surplus. Its government is keen on growth and influence. It is retraining its most aggressive buyers now, but the takeover offers will come back before long. This is no bad thing. Investment across borders should allow China and the rest of the world to develop stabilising mutual interests. But governments in the US, Europe, and elsewhere need to have a clear policy for dealing with Chinese takeover offers.
中国是一个正在崛起的、拥有巨大储蓄盈余的经济超级大国。中国政府迫切想要实现增长、加强影响力。目前，中国正在整顿其最积极的买家，但收购热潮不久就会卷土重来。这不是坏事。跨境投资应该能让中国和世界其他国家产生有助于稳定的共同利益。但美国、欧洲和其他国家的政府需要有一个明确的政策来应对中国的收购要约。
The approach must acknowledge China’s unique characteristics, and set explicit standards for reciprocity, transparency and data security. Vague insistence on “strategic interests” generally will encourage resentment in China and protectionism in other countries. The world should welcome Chinese capital, but only on mutually beneficial terms.
这一政策必须承认中国的独特性，并为对等、透明度和数据安全制定明确的标准。模糊地坚持“战略利益”往往会激起中国的怨恨和其他国家的保护主义。世界应该欢迎中国资本，但只能是以互惠互利为条件。
