富士康將遭遇股東發難 鴻海精密被質問

Hon Hai Precision, the Apple supplier also known as Foxconn, faces a rare challenge at its AGM today from a group of global institutional investors over its corporate governance.

鴻海精密(Hon Hai Precision)將在今日的年度股東大會上遭遇罕見挑戰，全球機構投資者將質問這家又名富士康(Foxconn)的蘋果(Apple)供應商的公司治理事務。

The intervention from a group including Aviva, Axa and Calstrs is one of the first of its size and scale in Asia, and represents wider hopes for greater engagement between shareholders and executives in the region.

這些機構投資者包括英傑華(Aviva)、安盛(Axa)和加州教師養老基金(CalSTRS)，它們發起的這種大規模干預是亞洲迄今少見的，並代表着一種廣泛的期盼，即亞洲的股東和高管之間能夠增加接觸。

Governments and regulators have begun trying to shake up the often supine relationships between investors and management. Earlier this year, Japan brought in a new stewardship code and yesterday confirmed plans for corporate governance reforms. Malaysia will this week become only the second Asian country to introduce stewardship guidelines.

政府和監管機構已開始試圖撼動投資者與管理層之間往往偏於懶散的關係。日本在今年早些時候出臺了一套新的管理法規，並在昨日證實了開展公司治理改革的計劃。馬來西亞將在本週成爲亞洲第二個出臺管理指導原則的國家。

The investors are expected to challenge Hon Hai over issues including transparency, long-term strategy, board composition and the “key man” risk posed by chairman Terry Gou.

預計投資者將在各種問題上向鴻海精密發起質問，包括透明度、長期戰略、董事會的組成，以及董事長郭臺銘(Terry Gou)構成的“關鍵人物”風險。

Mr Gou founded Hon Hai 40 years ago with a $7,500 loan from his mother. Hon Hai is now China’s biggest private employer, with about 1m workers. It also makes the majority of Apple’s iPhones and iPads.

郭臺銘在40年前用母親借給他的7500美元創立了鴻海精密。鴻海目前是中國最大的私營部門僱主，有100萬左右工人。該公司爲蘋果代工製造大部分的iPhone和iPad。

But the shareholders’ attempt to engage with Hon Hai comes as the world’s largest contract manufacturer faces questions over its future direction as it tries to fend off competitors while coping with rising labour costs in China – still its manufacturing centre.

但在股東試圖與鴻海接觸之際，全球最大的代工製造商正面臨有關其未來發展方向的問題。目前該公司正努力抵擋競爭對手，同時應對中國大陸勞動力成本上升問題；中國大陸仍是它的製造基地。

Two members of the investor group will attend today’s annual general meeting and plan to ask whether the company can provide more clarity on its long-term business plan, whether its board has the skills to cope and to probe its succession plans for Mr Gou, its founder, chairman, chief executive and largest shareholder.

上述投資者羣體的兩名成員將出席今日的年度股東大會，並計劃提出多個問題，包括該公司能否提供更清晰的長期業務計劃？其董事會是否有能力應對並考察關於郭臺銘退位後的接班計劃？郭臺銘是該公司的創始人、董事長、首席執行官和最大股東。

Hon Hai declined to comment.

鴻海精密拒絕發表評論。

Other members of the shareholder group include MN and PGGM, the Dutch pension funds, RailPen, the UK pension fund, Robeco, the Dutch fund manager and the UK Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

這個股東羣體的其它成員包括荷蘭養老基金MN和PGGM；英國養老基金RailPen；荷蘭基金管理公司荷寶(Robeco)；以及英國高校退休基金(USS)。

“Not every investor has the resources to engage effectively with companies far away from home,” said Hans-Christoph Hirt, Singapore-based executive director for responsible investment and stewardship at Hermes Equity Ownership Services, and one of the attendees.

“不是每個投資者都有充足資源，能與遠離本土的公司有效接觸，”Hermes Equity Ownership Services負責投資及管理事務的執行總監漢斯-克里斯托夫•希爾特(Hans-Christoph Hirt)表示。他是會議出席者之一。

“Companies need to change but so do investors. Effective stewardship requires more people on the ground in Asia to build relationships and engage with companies.”

“公司需要改變，但投資者也需要改變。有效管理意味着需要在亞洲的第一線投入更多人力，以構建關係，與企業接觸。”

This week Hon Hai and Pegatron, a rival Taiwanese assembler of Apple products, both said they were recruiting workers – thought to be related to production of the next round of Apple products.

本週鴻海和同樣爲蘋果裝配產品的臺資競爭對手和碩(Pegatron)均稱，他們正在招工。據信此舉與生產蘋果下一代產品有關。

Last year, Hon Hai was one of six bidders to win a 4G telecoms licence in Taiwan in a clear sign of its plans to diversify its business.

去年，鴻海成爲贏得臺灣4G電信運營牌照的六個競標者之一，這是一個明確跡象，說明該公司計劃將業務多元化。