中國金融機構海外併購熱情上漲

China’s banks and insurers have more actively sought overseas assets in 2014 than at any time in the past decade, hinting at a new found confidence to look abroad among the country’s financial institutions.

2014年，中國的銀行及保險公司在收購海外資產方面是過去十年內最爲積極的，凸顯中國金融機構對海外擴張越發自信。

Last week’s 379m purchase of Banco Espirito Santo’s investment bank by Haitong Securities took the 2014 Deal tally to 30 and the sector’s combined spend to $4.8bn, according to Dealogic. While that remains just shy of 2013’s $5.1bn, itself the biggest year since the financial crisis, the number of deals has nearly doubled.

上週，海通證券(Haitong Securities)斥資3.79億歐元，收購了葡萄牙聖靈銀行(Banco Espirito Santo)的投資銀行業務。至此，根據Dealogic的數據，2014年中國金融機構海外併購交易達到30宗，總投資額48億美元。儘管併購金額依然略低於2013年的51億美元（該年是金融危機以來此類併購規模最大的一年），交易宗數卻將近翻了一番。

Alongside Haitong’s recent deal, notable bank transactions have included ICBC’s $765m purchase of a majority stake in Standard Bank’s London trading business, while China Construction Bank’s $730m purchase of a 72 per cent stake in Brazil’s BicBancoreceived regulatory approval.

除了海通證券近期的交易，值得注意的銀行併購交易還包括：中國工商銀行(ICBC)斥資7.65億美元，收購了標準銀行(Standard Bank)倫敦交易業務的多數股份；與此同時，中國建設銀行(China Construction Bank)以7.3億美元收購巴西工商銀行(BicBanco)72%股份的交易也得到了監管機構的批准。

“What we’ve seen this year is some opportunistic seeking of footholds in new markets, beyond the traditional ‘comfort zone’ markets for investment such as North America, Europe and Australia,” said Colin Banfield, head of Asia M&A at Citigroup. “Brazil for one is clearly an emerging market where valuations have come down to more attractive levels during 2014.”

花旗集團(Citigroup)亞洲併購交易主管彭高年(Colin Banfield)表示：“今年以來，除了北美、歐洲及澳大利亞等傳統的‘舒適區域’的投資市場，我們看到一些機構在新市場尋找立足機會。巴西明顯就是一個估值在2014年跌落至更具吸引力水平的新興市場。”

Individual deals are still dwarfed by financial crisis-era transactions, such as China’s purchase of a $5.6bn near 10 per cent stake in Morgan Stanley through its sovereign wealth fund in 2007 — the biggest Chinese outbound deal in the industry. But the smaller, more frequent deals highlight a growing dealmaking trend within Chinese institutions.

單筆交易規模仍低於金融危機時期，比如，2007年，中國通過主權財富基金，以56億美元代價收購了摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)近10%的股份，這是中國在金融業領域迄今規模最大的海外併購。今年交易規模較小，但次數卻更多，顯然中國金融機構在海外併購方面越來越火熱。

“They are not now taking down generally more than they can chew,” said Keith Pogson, head of the Asia financial services practice for EY. “If it is something larger, then they are typically taking a smaller stake, then sitting there long enough to understand it better.

安永(EY)亞洲金融服務業務主管包凱(Keith Pogson)表示：“如今它們不會收購超過它們消化能力的目標。如果收購的對象較爲龐大，它們通常會收購少許股份，等候足夠長的時間，以便更好地理解收購對象。”

“Banks are going in, bit by bit, and saying: ‘OK, we know there are things such as culture and management we need to understand, and if we go in there too strong, we could end up destroying value’,” added Mr Pogson.

包凱補充說：“銀行正在一點一點地開展併購，並且說：‘沒錯，我們知道我們需要理解文化和管理方面的事情，如果我們動作太快，最終可能會損害估值。’”

China’s developing trade corridors have also become a focus for investment — helped by western banks’ decisions to pull back from some countries.

中國正在發展的貿易走廊也已成爲投資的熱點——西方銀行決定從部分國家撤出，助長了這種現象。

“Those exits have left room for Chinese banks and others to come in,” said Chris Harvey, global head of Deloitte’s financial services team. “In trade financing it pays to get on both ends of a transaction, but you can’t do that unless you’ve got a presence in the receiving country, too.”

德勤(Deloitte)金融服務團隊全球主管克里斯•哈維(Chris Harvey)表示：“西方銀行的撤出，爲中資銀行及其他機構的進入留下了空間。在貿易融資領域，爲交易雙方提供服務會有很大好處。不過，如果你在貿易融資的接收國沒有立足點，是無法做到這一點的。”

Portugal has been the biggest beneficiary of China’s spending this year. Dwarfing Haitong’s deal was Fosun’s $1.5bn purchase of the country’s largest insurance company, Caixa Seguros — one of a series of European transactions by Fosun, China’s largest privately-held conglomerate.

今年，葡萄牙是中國金融機構海外併購投資的最大接收國。其中，復星集團(Fosun)以15億美元收購葡萄牙最大保換險公司Caixa Seguros的交易，令海通證券的收購交易也相形見絀。作爲中國最大的民營集團，收購Caixa Seguros只是復星在歐洲一系列併購交易之一。