萬達投資讓中國人看上西班牙地產

MADRID — In June, one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin, bought a landmark office tower in Madrid that had stood empty for years. The Franco-era building, Spain’s tallest skyscraper when it opened in 1953, had become a symbol of the Spanish real estate market’s collapse in 2008.

馬德里——王健林是中國最大的富商之一，今年6月，他在馬德里買下了一棟空置多年的地標性建築物。這棟佛朗哥時代的建築物於1953年開業，當時是西班牙最高的摩天大樓，2008年時，它成了西班牙房地產市場崩潰的象徵。

The purchase of the 25-story Edificio España by Mr. Wang’s conglomerate, the Dalian Wanda Group, for 265 million euros, or about $340 million, was seen here as evidence that the nation’s property market was on the mend — and that Spain was figuring more prominently in the plans of Chinese investors.

王健林的企業集團大連萬達斥資2.65億歐元（約合人民幣21億元），買下這棟25層樓高的西班牙大廈(Edificio España)，在當地，此舉被視爲其國內房地產市場正在復甦，以及該國在中國投資者的計劃中正在變得更加重要的一個證據。

The deal “put Spain on the map for Chinese institutional investors, who generally feel a lot more comfortable about going into a new market once they have seen at least one large transaction go ahead,” said Fernando de Góngora, a founder of Reliance Star Partners, a consulting firm based in Hong Kong that advises Spanish and Chinese investors.

這筆交易“把西班牙帶進了中國機構投資者的視野中，當看到至少有一宗大規模的交易在進行，他們對於進入一個新市場就會更覺安心，”費爾南多·貢戈拉(Fernando de Góngora)說；他是Reliance Star Partners諮詢公司的創始人，該公司位於香港，爲西班牙和中國投資者提供諮詢服務。

But Spain has work to do if it wants to build on that momentum. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, is to begin a three-day state visit to China on Wednesday. It will be his first visit to China since he took office in late 2011. Angela Merkel, who took office in 2005 as the German chancellor, made her seventh official visit to China in July.

但如果西班牙若想趁着這個勢頭有所作爲，它還有很多工作要做。本週三，西班牙首相馬里亞諾·拉霍伊(Mariano Rajoy)將開始對中國的爲期三天的國事訪問。這是他2011年年底上任之後，第一次出訪中國。而2005年成爲德國總理的安格拉·默克爾(Angela Merkel)，已經在今年7月完成了她對中國的第七次正式訪問。

The Spanish government has made several moves to make investors feel welcome. For example, this year it scrapped a law that allowed Spain’s national court to indict Chinese political leaders on charges of human rights violations in Tibet. In addition, individual Chinese investors have benefited from a program that allows foreigners who buy property in Spain to apply for residency.

爲了讓投資者感到受歡迎，西班牙政府出臺了若干舉措。例如，根據西班牙之前的一項法律，國家法庭可以起訴中國領導人侵犯西藏人權，該國今年取消了這項法律。此外，西班牙還允許在該國購置物業的人申請居留權，中國的一些個人投資者已經從該方案中受益。

In July, when the Spanish secretary of state for the economy, Jaime García-Legaz, traveled to China, he noted that Chinese citizens had received 282 of the 1,880 “golden visas” granted by Madrid. In the case of Spain, its visas give residency to any foreigner who buys property worth at least 160,000 or $205,500.

7月，西班牙貿易國務祕書詹姆·加西亞-勒加斯(Jaime García-Legaz)前往中國時，稱馬德里總共簽署了1880份“黃金簽證”，其中282份由中國公民獲得。外國人如果在西班牙購置了價值不低於16萬歐元的物業，就可以獲得該國的居留簽證。

Mr. García-Legaz acknowledged that the current level of deal-making “amounts to still small investments, but the most important thing is that China has put its focus on Spain.” He also warned that Spanish companies should pay closer attention to China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States.

加西亞-勒加斯承認，中西目前的交易水平“仍然屬於小規模投資，但最重要的是，中國的目光已經投向了西班牙。”他還警告說，中國是僅次於美國的全球第二大經濟體，西班牙企業應該更加關注中國。

“To miss out on this investment opportunity is something that nobody with an international vocation can afford,” Mr. García-Legaz said.

“任何具有國際視野的人，都不能錯過這個投資機會，”加西亞-勒加斯說。

But when Spanish companies look at emerging markets, they traditionally focus on Latin America. China ranks 26th as a destination for Spanish investment, accounting for just 0.5 percent of Spain’s total foreign direct investment, according to a recent report by Esade, the Spanish business school.

但是，在考慮新興市場的機會時，西班牙公司歷來都把目光投向拉丁美洲。西班牙艾賽德商學院(Esade)最近的一份報告稱，在該國的投資目的地中，中國排名第26，僅佔西班牙外國直接投資總額的0.5%。

With some exceptions, corporate ties between the two countries are weak. True, Repsol, the Spanish energy company, is involved in a joint venture with Sinopec, its much-larger Chinese counterpart, to explore for oil in Brazil.

兩國之間的企業關係仍然不強，只有少許例外。西班牙能源公司雷普索爾(Repsol)與規模大得多的中國同行中石化成立了一家合資公司，在巴西勘探石油。

More typical is the case of BBVA, a Spanish lender that now earns more from its banking operations in Mexico than in its home market. BBVA decided in October 2013 to cut its stake in Citic Bank, part of a conglomerate controlled by the Chinese government, to help meet international capital requirements.

貸款機構西班牙對外銀行(BBVA)的情況更爲典型，它目前在墨西哥開展的銀行業務，比其國內市場的利潤更高。2013年10月，西班牙對外銀行決定削減其在中信銀行的持股比例，以滿足國際資本要求。中信銀行屬於中國政府控制的一個企業集團。

Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications giant, halved its stake in China Unicom in 2012 to cut its debt.

2012年，西班牙電信業巨頭Telefónica爲了削減債務，也將其持有的中國聯通的股份減半。

At the same time, only 60 Chinese companies have operations in Spain, said lvana Casaburi, a professor at Esade and the lead author of the business school’s report on China. The Chinese are sharply increasing investment in Spain, but from a low base, according to the Esade study. Their recent focus on the Spanish real estate market comes as housing prices rose in the second quarter for the first time since 2008.

與此同時，目前只有60家中國公司在西班牙開展業務，艾賽德的教授伊萬娜·卡薩布里(Ivana Casaburi)說，她是該商學院關於中國的一份報告的主要作者。中國人對西班牙的投資正在大幅增加，但其基數較低，艾賽德的研究稱。他們最近把目光投向西班牙房地產市場，正值今年第二季度該國房價上漲，這還是自2008年以來的首次上漲。

Dalian Wanda’s purchase of the Edificio España is representative of the bargains that investors from anywhere in the world can find in Spain’s battered property market. The Chinese conglomerate is paying about a third less than the 389 million that Banco Santander paid in 2005, at the height of Spain’s construction boom.

大連萬達對西班牙大廈的收購，顯示了全球各地的投資者，可以在西班牙遭受重創的房地產市場找到價廉物美的目標。萬達集團支付的價格，比桑坦德銀行(Banco Santander)2005年支付的3.89億歐元低了約三分之一；2005年是西班牙房地產開發熱潮的鼎盛期。

Dalian Wanda plans to renovate the structure to include luxury apartments and a hotel as part of a broader overhaul of the neighborhood, including some other hotel projects. Chinese investors are particularly interested in hotel properties because “they believe Chinese tourists should feel like at home when they travel,” said Ms. Casaburi of Esade.

大連萬達打算改造這棟建築物的結構，開設豪華公寓和一家酒店，配合這片地區將要進行的規模更大的改造。這裏將會興建一些酒店，而中國投資者對酒店物業特別感興趣，因爲“他們認爲，中國遊客出外旅行的時候，應該感覺像在家裏一樣，”艾賽德的卡薩布里說。

Chinese investors also recently acquired the Valparaíso Palace, a hotel resort on the island of Majorca, for 48 million. And in May, HNA, another Chinese conglomerate, announced it was raising its stake in NH Hoteles to 29.9 percent — just below the 30 percent threshold that makes a full takeover bid compulsory in Spain — after acquiring an initial interest of 20 percent in 2013.

中國投資者最近還收購了馬略卡島的度假酒店瓦爾帕萊索宮(Valparaíso Palace)，交易價格爲4800萬歐元。今年5月，另一家中國集團海航集團宣佈，將把對西班牙酒店集團NH Hoteles的持股比例增加至29.9%，僅低於30%的門檻；西班牙規定，持股比例達到30%將構成完整的收購義務。海航最初是在2013年收購了NH Hoteles 20%的股份。

The investment was welcome for NH, a Madrid-based operator of 367 hotels, mostly in Europe, that was left short of cash after the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis.

這宗投資受到了NH的歡迎。該集團總部位於馬德里，旗下367家酒店主要分佈在歐洲，歐元區主權債務危機爆發之後，NH出現了資金短缺。

Federico González Tejera, chief executive of NH, acknowledged that HNA’s initial investment had come “at a very delicate moment for us.” But he said the benefits of having HNA as his company’s largest shareholder went beyond cash: HNA owns Hainan Airlines as well as hotels in China, presenting a prospect of deeper cooperation in the future.

NH首席執行官費德里科·岡薩雷斯·特赫拉(Federico González Tejera)承認，海航集團的前期投入發生“在一個對我們而言非常微妙的時刻”。但他表示，海航集團成爲該公司第一大股東的好處，已經超出現金範疇：該集團擁有海南航空以及一些中國酒店，因而提供了開展更深層次合作的前景。