Lex专栏：吉利入股戴姆勒的好处
不能指责李书福为了与德国高层结交而出高价收购戴姆勒(Daimler)。据德国媒体报道，在浙江吉利控股(Zhejiang Geely Holding)收购戴姆勒价值90亿美元的股份后，其董事长李书福收到了德国联邦总理府的邀请。
The Chinese car company will pay much less in cash than the headline figure. And the exposure to German manufacturing and marketing should be worth it, as a 6.5 per cent jump in the shares on Monday signalled.
这家中国汽车公司支付的现金将远远低于这一总体数字。吉利由此得到打入德国制造业和进行品牌营销的机会，所以这笔交易应该是划算的，周一其股价上涨了6.5%就是证明。
The transaction uses a “funded equity collar” designed by engineers of the financial variety. Derivatives deals limit gains and losses on the 9.7 per cent strategic stake. That makes the financing of the purchase nearly riskless and therefore cheap for Geely. The net outlay the Chinese group will pay on top of the loan value should be modest compared with the stake value. The ratio has not been disclosed. Groups such as HNA have used this trick in the past.
这笔交易使用了金融工程师设计的“融资股权领口”(funded equity collar)。衍生品交易把这笔9.7%的战略股份的收益与损失限定在一定范围内。这使此次收购的融资几乎没有风险，因此吉利的融资成本很低。在贷款获得的资金之外，吉利还需净支付的金额与股份价值相比应当很小。这一比率尚未公布。海航(HNA)等集团过去就曾使用过这种方式。
Daimler and Geely are both doing well despite a slowing Chinese market. It is the German premium car group’s largest, at 25 per cent of unit sales last year. Geely’s revenues grew by a quarter annually in the past five years and the group is anxious to go global.
尽管中国市场放缓，但戴姆勒和吉利的业绩都不错。中国是德国高档汽车集团戴姆勒最大的市场，去年销量占戴姆勒整体销量的25%。过去5年，吉利的收入每年增长25%，同时该集团也渴望向全球市场进军。
Collaboration in China is unlikely, given that Daimler has joint ventures with BAIC and BYD. The German group just announced Rmb11.9bn ($1.9bn) of shared investment with BAIC, a Beijing-based automotive group. If Mr Li joins the Daimler board, he can at least take notes on how to take his successful mass-market brand overseas. The German group will be wary of sharing its technology with him. But a partnership could still help boost returns on heavy spending on electric and self-driving cars.
考虑到戴姆勒与北汽(BAIC)和比亚迪(BYD)都成立了合资企业，吉利不大可能再与戴姆勒在中国合作。戴姆勒刚刚宣布与北京的北汽集团共同投资119亿元人民币(合19亿美元)。如果李书福加入戴姆勒董事会，他至少可以学习如何把自己成功的大众市场品牌带到海外。戴姆勒在与李书福分享自身技术时将十分谨慎。但双方的合作仍有助于提高电动与自动驾驶汽车巨额支出的回报率。
Mr Li’s interest in Daimler was long advertised and was rebuffed in October. The balance of advantage should mainly accrue to Geely, hence its persistence. Mr Li had better ready a line on the advantages of the deal to Daimler for when he meets chancellery officials.
李书福对戴姆勒的兴趣早已广为人知，但在去年10月却曾遭到戴姆勒方面的拒绝。这笔交易的主要受益方是吉利，因此吉利坚持不懈。李书福最好准备好一套关于这笔交易对戴姆勒的好处的说辞，好在会见德国总理府官员时告诉他们。
