恆大擬收購英國住宅建築商
China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande Group, is in talks to buy the UK housebuilder Cala Homes in what would be the first Chinese venture into the UK’s large-scale housebuilding sector.
中國第二大房地產開發商恆大集團(Evergrande Group)正洽談收購英國住宅建築商Cala Homes，如果收購成功，這將是中資企業首次將併購觸角伸向英國大規模住宅建築領域。
A sale would offer a potential exit for Cala’s investors, the insurer Legal & General and the real estate specialists Patron Capital, which bought the company in 2013 from Lloyds Banking Group.
此次出售將爲Cala的股東——英國法通保險公司(Legal & General)以及房地產專家Patron Capital提供一次潛在的退出機會。2013年，這兩家公司從勞埃德銀行集團(Lloyds Banking Group)手中買下了Cala。
But people close to the talks stressed that they were “preliminary” in nature and that no deal was guaranteed.
但接近談判的人士強調，他們正在“初步”接觸，不一定能夠達成協議。
Hong Kong-listed Evergrande approached Cala’s owners some months ago about a potential purchase, according to three people briefed on the discussions. This prompted L&G and Patron to engage investment bankers at Lazard to advise them on the talks. Evergrande is being advised by KPMG.
三位消息人士稱，幾個月前，在香港上市的恆大集團接觸了Cala的股東，提出可能的收購事宜。這促使法通保險公司和Patron Capital聘請瑞德(Lazard)的投資銀行家爲談判提供諮詢。恆大由畢馬威(KPMG)提供諮詢。
Cala’s owners are not thought to be in discussions with other potential buyers, but one person close to the discussions said that “nothing is off the table”, including a stock market listing of the company.
據認爲，Cala的股東並未與其他潛在買家商談，但一位知情人士說，“未排除任何選項”，包括把Cala推到股票市場上市。
Cala said: “Thanks to the quality of our brand and strong financial and trading performance, from time to time we may find ourselves the subject of speculation but from our perspective it is very much business as usual.”
Cala表示：“鑑於我們擁有優質的品牌，並且在財務和經營方面表現強勁，我們不時會發現自己成爲猜測的對象，但從我們的視角看，業務一切如常。”
Evergrande has little experience of housebuilding outside its home market. While Chinese property developers are active in the UK — Dalian Wanda, for example, is constructing a residential scheme in London — there have been no Chinese takeovers of UK housebuilders.
恆大幾乎沒有在國內市場以外的住宅建築經驗。儘管中國房地產開發商在英國表現活躍——例如，大連萬達(Dalian Wanda)正在倫敦興建一個住宅項目——但中國企業還沒有收購過英國房屋建築商。
Cala, which built 1,150 homes in the year to June, focuses on higher-priced property in south-east England while also operating in Scotland and the Midlands.
在截止今年6月的一年裏，Cala已建成1150套住房。該公司主要在英格蘭東南部開發較高價格的物業項目，同時也在蘇格蘭和英格蘭中部開展業務。
L&G and Patron each bought a 46.5 per cent stake in Cala in 2013, with Cala’s management acquiring 7 per cent in a deal that valued the company at ￡210m. Its output has since risen and analysts at Barclays earlier this year said L&G’s stake was worth about ￡380m.
2013年，法通保險公司和Patron Capital分別收購了Cala 46.5%的股權，Cala管理層收購了7%的股權——那筆交易對公司的估值爲2.1億英鎊。自那以來，Cala的房屋建造量有所上升。今年早些時候，巴克萊(Barclays)分析師表示，法通保險公司所持的Cala股權價值約爲3.8億英鎊。
L&G, Patron and Lazard declined to comment. Evergrande had not res-ponded to a request for comment at publication time.
法通保險公司、Patron Capital和瑞德拒絕置評。截止交稿時，恆大沒有回覆記者的置評請求。
