中國化工與倍耐力的戀愛史
Bells ringing from a church next to ChemChina’s headquarters yesterday morning provided a fitting soundtrack for the group’s chairman to explain its proposed 7.3bn takeover of Italian tyre group Pirelli.
“There is an old Chinese saying that it is better to knock down 10 temples than wreck one marriage,” Ren Jianxin, head of the state-owned chemicals group said. “It means that one must do everything in one’s power to facilitate a marriage. We are hoping that all the pieces can come together for our wonderful marriage with Pirelli.”
任建新說：“中國有句老話，寧拆十座廟不毀一樁婚。這句話的意思是，人們要竭盡全力來成就一樁婚事。我們希望與倍耐力的聯姻能美滿。”Mr Ren and his counterpart at Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, believe the Italian group, which has a strong position in the high-end automotive tyre segment, can use its partnership with ChemChina to bolster its comparatively weak industrial tyres division, especially in China. “Pirelli’s size in this [industrial] segment is limited,” Mr Ren said. “Pirelli needs an Asian partner to develop its industrial tyre business.”
倍耐力在高端汽車輪胎市場擁有強大地位，任建新與倍耐力負責人馬可•特隆凱蒂•普羅維拉(Marco Tronchetti Provera)相信，這家意大利集團可以利用與其與中國化工的合作伙伴關係，做強它相對較弱的工業輪胎業務，尤其是在中國。任建新說：“倍耐力在工業輪胎市場的規模相對有限，它需要一個亞洲合作伙伴來發展這一業務。”
China is the world’s largest automotive market, with 23m vehicles sold last year, but still has only 107 cars for every 1,000 people. That figure is expected to rise to 252 cars over the next 10 years.
中國是全球最大的汽車市場，去年汽車銷量230萬輛，但每千人仍只擁有107輛汽車，預計未來10年這一數字將攀升至252輛汽車。The courtship between Pirelli and ChemChina began three years ago. But Mr Ren said the two companies’ hopes for a tie-up in 2012 were dashed when rumours of his approach leaked and “disturbed” the share price.
倍耐力與中國化工的緣份開始於三年前。任建新表示，兩家公司在2012年時就希望結盟，結果因爲他接觸倍耐力的消息走漏，引起股價“波動”，最終不了了之。Six months ago Mr Ren renewed negotiations with industrialist Mr Tronchetti Provera. “We really saw eye-to-eye,” ChemChina’s chairman said. “Our strategies and visions had not changed over the past three years.”
半年前任建新再次與實業家特隆凱蒂•普羅維拉洽談，他說：“我們的看法完全一致，過去三年我們的戰略和願景都沒有變過。”The first step in ChemChina’s complex takeover of Pirelli took place last week, when the Chinese group agreed to acquire holding company Camfin, Pirelli’s controlling shareholder.
中國化工對倍耐力的收購過程頗爲複雜，上週中國化工同意收購倍耐力控股公司Camfin所持倍耐力股份，踏出了整個收購計劃的第一步。ChemChina will then make its more than 7bn offer for the entire company and take it private. According to Mr Ren, it ultimately intends to relist Pirelli’s automotive business in Italy and the two companies’ combined industrial tyre units in Asia.
然後中國化工將發出整體收購要約，將倍耐力私有化，整個收購價超過70億歐元。根據任建新的介紹，中國化工的最終打算是讓倍耐力的汽車業務在意大利重新上市，以及兩家企業合併後的工業輪胎業務在亞洲重新上市。He worries, however, that a rival bidder could scupper his plans. “I’m still worried about the deal, because after all it’s a public bidding process,” Mr Ren said. “Due to cheap liquidity, there might be blind counterbids that will hurt Pirelli investors and also the company’s longer-term strategy.”
但任建新擔心會出現競購對手破壞他的計劃，他說：“我還是擔心這筆交易，因爲這畢竟是個公開收購的過程。由於流動性便宜，可能會出現盲目還價，這樣會既傷害倍耐力的投資者，也傷害這家公司的長期戰略。”He hopes his promise to preserve Pirelli’s reputation as the “Prada of the tyre industry” will help to quell doubts about the ability of a Chinese state-owned Goliath with Rmb300bn in revenues and 140,000 employees to run one of the jewels in Italy’s industrial crown.
任建新承諾要保住倍耐力“輪胎行業普拉達(Prada)”的聲譽，他希望自己的承諾有助於消除關於一家中國國企是否有能力管理好倍耐力的質疑，倍耐力是意大利工業皇冠上的一顆明珠。作爲中國的國企巨人，中國化工年收入3000億元人民幣，擁有14萬名員工。“Our biggest pressure is to carry forward Pirelli’s culture, management and technology,” Mr Ren said. “Pirelli is a global brand that grew out of Italian soil. Can it grow if you change its soil? I don’t know and I don’t want to try . . . So we won’t move its headquarters, change management or transfer its technologies. This is all written in our agreement.”
任建新說：“我們最大的壓力是要繼續發展倍耐力的文化、管理和技術。倍耐力是在意大利土壤上成長起來的國際品牌。如果改變土壤環境，它是否還能繼續成長？我不知道，也不想嘗試……因此我們不會遷移總部位置，變更管理層或轉讓它的技術。這些全寫在我們的協議裏。”Such reassurances appear to have won over Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi’s reformist government, which is highlighting the ChemChina-Pirelli deal as a sign of its more open policy on foreign investment as it seeks to boost the economy. On Saturday, Italy’s economic development minister, Federica Guidi, said Rome had “no right to intervene” in any such deal, especially as ChemChina’s takeover would make Pirelli “even more competitive”.
上述保證似乎已贏得了意大利總理馬泰奧•倫齊(Matteo Renzi)的改革派政府的贊同。倫齊政府正在尋求提振經濟，因此對外國投資採取更開放的政策，它將中國化工與倍耐力的這筆交易視爲政府開放立場的體現。上週六，意大利經濟發展部部長費代麗卡•圭迪(Federica Guidi)表示，意大利政府“無權干涉”此類交易，尤其是中國化工的收購將讓倍耐力“更具競爭力”。It is all part and parcel of a much broader Sino-Italian love affair which has seen Chinese investors take stakes in half a dozen prominent Italian companies, including the one that controls the country’s electricity grid and gas distribution. Italy, meanwhile, was one of the first European countries to sign up to the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, despite strenuous objections from Washington.
這筆收購交易是更廣泛的“中意戀曲”的一個重要部分，中國投資者已投資入股6家著名的意大利公司，其中一家公司控制着意大利的電網和天然氣分銷系統。同時，意大利是申請加入北京牽頭的亞洲基礎設施投資銀行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，簡稱“亞投行”）的首批歐洲國家之一，儘管華盛頓對該銀行強烈反對。“The Italian public and government have been quite open to Chinese investment,” Mr Ren said. “We . . . feel grateful for the Italian government’s remarks regarding this transaction.”
任建新說：“意大利的民衆和政府已對中國投資敞開懷抱。我們……非常感謝意大利政府對此次收購交易的立場。”Additional reporting by Wan Li and Rachel Sanderson
萬麗、雷切爾•桑德森(Rachel Sanderson)補充報道
