经济学人 中国的重要一步

中国工商银行10月25日宣布将以56亿美元收购南非标准银行20%的股权，这是中国新外国投资战略的生动例子。它一举多得，其中一些好处并非立即可见的。如果说在中国的外国公司的进展有时候有点像跳棋，公司跳过它们自己，以获得更好的位置，那海外中国公司的推进就更像象棋。它们步步计算，以配合长期的战略。

　　直到最近，中国的海外收购一般是在发展中市场取得石油、天然气和用品公司的多数股权。两年前，最大的交易是以40亿美元收购哈萨克斯坦石油公司。向发达国家的进军要么失败，要么成功仅限于取得疲弱的业务，例如联想收购IBM萎缩的个人电脑部门。欲收购美国尤尼科（Unocal）和Maytag等较强公司的企图总是搁浅，多半是出于政治原因。

　　但北京希望中国公司获得外国技术、原料和技能。而且它有很多钱可花。在9月，政府成立中国投资有限责任公司（CIC），拿出该国1.4万亿外汇储备中的2000亿美元，主要用于海外收购。中国上市公司也从畅旺的股市中获益，盆满钵满。

　　因此中国人采取了新的办法。如今多数控制已经不那么重要了。中国第一家私有银行民生银行在9月收购美国联合银行（UCBH）9.9%的股权，中国国家开发银行收购英国巴克莱银行3.1%的股权。影响力和技能的获取被视为比控制权更有价值。少量股权既有教育性，在政治上也更为可行。

　　直接持股也不那么重要了。中国买家乐于投资中介公司，可以用于在其他企业取得其他较不明显的股份。CIC已经投资美国私募集团黑石。本周中国的社保基金表示它整合另外三家私募公司谈判，以求取得其中一家的少量股权。中国最大的证券公司中信集团在10月22日表示它将通过换股取得贝尔斯登（美国一家危机四伏的投资银行）6%的股权；作为回报，贝尔斯登可以获得中信2%的股权。

　　中国公司还加速投资政治阻力较少的、方便进入其他市场的、可以让它们获得资源或技能的国家。据说CIC想取得两大矿业巨人BHP Billiton和Rio Tinto的少量股权，让原料的供应更加高枕无忧。据说资金充裕的中国保险公司在打主意取得外国对手的少量股权，以获取管理技能。

　　中国工商银行和标准银行的交易十分符合这种新模式。工商银行没有试图收购一个全球性对手，而是在非洲最大的银行取得少量股权。这样，它可以更好地（较不明显地）在未来能源和用品供应的一片关键大陆直接投资。工商银行董事长姜建清（Jiang Jianqing）表示，通过推进这类收购，工商银行将成为具有全球能力的银行。这笔交易不大，却也是让中国获得全球能力的重要一步。（原题：特洛伊龙）

Chinese companies

Trojan dragons

Nov 1st 2007

From The Economist print edition

Chinese firms are taking a new approach to foreign acquisitions

THE announcement on October 25th that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) would buy 20% of Standard Bank in South Africa for $5.6 billion was a telling example of China's new foreign-investment strategy. It achieved many objectives simultaneously, some of which are not immediately obvious. If the progress of foreign firms in China sometimes seems a bit like a game of draughts, with companies jumping over themselves to gain better positions, the advance of Chinese firms abroad is more like a game of chess. They are taking calculated steps as part of a long-term strategy.

Until recently Chinese foreign acquisitions generally involved taking majority stakes in oil, gas and commodities companies in developing markets. The largest deal, two years ago, was the acquisition of PetroKazakhstan for $4 billion. Forays into the developed world either failed or succeeded only in picking up ailing businesses, as in Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's shrinking personal-computer division. Attempts to buy stronger firms such as Unocal and Maytag in America ran aground, mostly for political reasons.

But Beijing wants Chinese firms to gain access to foreign technologies, raw materials and skills. It also has lots of money to spend. In September the government established China Investment Corp (CIC) with $200 billion of the country's $1.4 trillion in foreign reserves, mostly to make purchases abroad. Chinese-listed firms have also benefited from a surging stockmarket and are flush with credit.

So the Chinese have adopted a new approach. Majority control is now less important. China Minsheng, the country's first privately owned bank, bought 9.9% of UCBH, an American bank, in September, and China Development Bank has acquired 3.1% of Barclays, a British bank. Influence and access to skills are regarded as more valuable than control. Small stakes are both educational and more feasible politically.

Direct holdings are also less important. Chinese buyers are happy to make investments in intermediate companies, which can be used to take other, less obvious stakes in other businesses. CIC has already invested in Blackstone, an American private-equity group. This week China's social-security fund said it was in talks with three other private-equity firms—Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Carlyle Group and TPG—to take a minority stake in one of them. CITIC, China's largest securities firm, said on October 22nd that it would take a 6% stake in Bear Stearns, an embattled American investment bank, via a capital and equity swap; Bear Stearns will get 2% of CITIC in return.

Chinese firms are also accelerating their investments in countries where there is less political resistance, where there is good access to other markets or where they can acquire resources or skills. CIC is said to want to take minority stakes in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, two mining giants, to make its supply of raw materials more secure. Cash-rich Chinese insurers are said to be hunting for minority stakes in foreign rivals to obtain management skills.

The ICBC/Standard Bank deal fits snugly into this new mould. Instead of trying to buy a global rival, ICBC has taken a minority stake in Africa's largest bank. This way, it can better (and less obviously) direct Chinese investments in a key continent for future energy and commodity supplies. Through further acquisitions of this sort ICBC will become a bank with global capabilities, says ICBC's chairman, Jiang Jianqing. The deal is a small but important step towards making China a country with global capabilities, too.