時事新聞:吉利在沃爾沃競購賽中領先

【英文原文】

China's Geely Leads Volvo Bidding
Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group Co. has emerged as the leading contender to acquire Swedish automaker Volvo from Ford Motor Co., said several people familiar with the matter.

Ford is in the process of analyzing a recent Geely bid to acquire 100% of Volvo for approximately $2.5 billion, these people said. The offer is higher than Ford or outsiders had expected for a brand that has lost more than $1 billion in recent years. In the quarter ended June 30, Volvo lost $231 million.

The deal may nonetheless be worth far less to Ford, given Geely's proposal to leave behind Volvo pension obligations, unwanted inventory and other substantial restructuring liabilities with Ford, said these people. Such a deal would be similar to Ford's sale of luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors Ltd. in early 2008. Tata paid $2.3 billion for the two brands. Ford then later contributed $600 million to Tata to cover Jaguar-Land Rover pension plans.

Geely and other Chinese firms want Volvo for its strong brand name and technology. Its dealer network also represents a chance to penetrate the U.S. and European markets with non-Volvo product. Geely has been especially emboldened of late, having just received a $245 million investment from Goldman Sachs Group's private-equity arm.

Geely couldn't be reached to comment late Thursday.

Volvo's technology is becoming a critical feature of the negotiations, say the people familiar with the matter. Volvo contributes collision warning systems, passenger-restraint technology and other safety equipment used by Ford and its other brands. Ford fears it could be handing over that technology to a company that is expected to become a direct competitor in Europe and North America. Ford officials continue to mull whether the technology 'could bleed all over the place,' said one person familiar with the negotiations.

Another sticking point has been a preference by Geely and other Chinese automakers to acquire only a portion of Volvo, while Ford has been adamant it wants to part with 100% of the unit. Originally Geely hoped that Ford would retain at least a 25% stake in Volvo, but Ford has declined to budge, according to a person briefed on the matter. The other remaining bidder is China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., also known as SAIC Motor.

One challenge for Ford: Pulling Volvo out of its operations, having deeply integrated the two since Volvo's purchase for $6.4 billion in 1999.

Through August of this year, Volvo sold 42,013 vehicles in the U.S., long considered its most important market. That's down almost 25% percent from the same period in 2008. For all of 2008, Volvo sold 73,102 vehicles in the U.S.

Ford put Volvo on the block last December, with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. handling the sale. 'We expected this to be a pretty long process because of the environment we're working in,' Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said in an interview this month. 'We haven't got an explicit timetable. We're still talking to interested parties. We're working through the options.'

Once Volvo is sold it will complete the dismantling of Ford's expensive and failed Premier Automotive Strategy.

【中文譯文】

據數位知情人士透露，在從福特汽車公司(Ford Motor Co.)手裏收購瑞典汽車廠商沃爾沃(Volvo)的競購者中，中國汽車生產商吉利控股集團脫潁而出，領先其他競購者。

這些人士說，福特正在分析吉利最近提出的斥資約25億美元全盤收購沃爾沃的提議。對這樣一個近幾年來虧損逾10億美元的品牌來說，吉利的出價高於福特或外部人士的預期。在截至6月30日的一個季度中，沃爾沃虧損2.31億美元。

這些人士說，鑑於吉利提出要把沃爾沃的退休金責任、不想要的庫存和其他相當多的重組責任留給福特，交易可能對福特遠沒有這麼有價值。這樣一樁交易與福特2008年初把豪華車品牌捷豹(Jaguar)和路虎(Land Rover)賣給印度塔塔汽車(Tata Motors Ltd.)的交易類似。塔塔爲這兩個品牌支付了23億美元。福特之後向塔塔支付6億美元用於捷豹和路虎的退休金計劃。

沃爾沃的經銷商網絡也是用非沃爾沃產品打入歐美市場的一個機會。吉利最近從高盛集團(Goldman Sachs Group)旗下的私募股權子公司獲得了2.45億美元的投資後，膽量尤其大了起來。

記者週四晚間無法聯繫到吉利相關人士發表置評。

知情人士說，沃爾沃的技術正成爲談判的一個重點。沃爾沃爲福特和它的其他品牌貢獻了防撞預警系統、乘客約束技術和其他安全設備。福特擔心它可能會把這些技術移交給一個預計將成爲其在歐洲和北美市場直接競爭對手的公司。一位熟悉談判內容的人士表示，福特管理人士仍在研判這些技術是否會廣泛外泄。

另外一個膠着點是吉利和其他中國汽車生產商傾向於只收購沃爾沃的部分業務，而福特則堅持要全盤賣掉沃爾沃。據一位知情人士透露，最初吉利曾希望福特會保留沃爾沃至少25%的股權，不過福特拒絕讓步。剩下的另外一家競購者是中國上海汽車工業（集團）總公司。

福特的一個挑戰是：要把沃爾沃從自己的業務中剝離出去，而自1999年福特斥資64億美元收購了沃爾沃以來，二者已經深深地融合在了一起。

今年截至8月底，沃爾沃在美銷量累計爲42,013輛，較2008年同期下滑了近25%。2008年全年，沃爾沃在美銷售了73,102輛汽車。美國一直被認爲是沃爾沃最重要的市場。

福特去年12月份開始拍賣沃爾沃，摩根大通(J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.)負責處理相關事宜。福特首席財務長布斯(Lewis Booth)本月在接受採訪時說，考慮到我們所處的環境，我們預計這將是一個很漫長的過程。我們尚未制定一個明確的時間表，仍在與意向方談判，考慮各種選擇。

一旦沃爾沃被賣掉，將爲福特花費浩大、最終失敗的高端汽車戰略(Premier Automotive Strategy)的完結畫上句號。