新西蘭監管機構阻止海航收購澳新銀行子公司

New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office has blocked HNA Group from taking over a New Zealand finance company, the latest setback to befall the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate.

新西蘭海外投資辦公室(Overseas Investment Office)已阻止海航集團(HNA Group)收購新西蘭一家金融公司，這是該收購意識較強的中國企業遇到的最新挫折。

The office said on Thursday it declined HNA’s proposed NZ$660m ($460m) takeover of UDC Finance, a unit of ANZ Bank, because it could not verify who controlled the airlines-to-finance group, which is based in southern China.

該辦公室週四表示已拒絕海航提出的6.6億新西蘭元（合4.6億美元）收購澳新銀行(ANZ Bank)子公司UDC Finance的計劃，理由是該辦公室無法覈實這家位於中國南方，業務覆蓋了航空、金融等領域的集團由誰控制。

“The information provided about ownership and control interests was not sufficient or adequate for the OIO to determine who the relevant overseas persons are for [HNA’s] application to acquire UDC,” said Lisa Barrett, the office’s deputy chief executive for policy and overseas investment.

該辦公室負責政策和海外投資的副主任麗莎?巴雷特(Lisa Barrett)表示：“其所提供的有關所有權和控制權益的信息不夠充分，不足以讓海外投資辦公室確認（海航）申請收購UDC的相關海外人士是何許人。”

“We were therefore not satisfied that the investor test in section 18 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 was met.”

“因此我們並不滿意其通過了《2005海外投資法》(Overseas Investment Act 2005)第18條的投資者測試。”

HNA said the office’s decision seemed “largely driven by negative media headlines” and not by the facts provided by HNA.

海航表示該辦公室的決定似乎“主要是受媒體負面報道帶動”，而不是基於海航提供的事實。

“We are disappointed by the OIO’s decision and find it inconsistent with the views of other regulators around the world that have recently issued approvals to HNA and other Chinese investors,” said an HNA spokesperson. “The current political environment in New Zealand relative to foreign investment will play a significant role in our determination of next steps.”

海航發言人表示：“我們對新西蘭海外投資辦公室的決定感到失望，併發覺它與全球其他監管機構觀點相悖，那些機構近期向海航及中國投資者發放了批准。新西蘭有關外國投資者的當前政治環境將在我們下一步決策中扮演關鍵角色。”

The decision marks the first rejection of a deal by the regulator under the new Labour-led coalition of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Analysts said it followed clear signals from the government that it would take a tougher approach to overseas takeovers than the previous administration, particularly on approaches from China.

這一決定標誌着在新西蘭總理傑辛達?阿德恩(Jacinda Ardern)帶領的由工黨(Labour)領導的新聯盟統治下，監管機構第一次拒絕了海外收購交易。分析人士表示這遵循了該政府的明確信號，即它將對海外收購採取比上屆政府更嚴厲的方式，特別是來自中國的邀約。

ANZ’s sale of UDC was announced in January as part of the bank’s effort to complete A$3 billion ($2.3bn) of disposals, mostly in Asia. ANZ, which on Monday said it would buy back A$1.5bn of shares following a series of divestments of non-core businesses this year, said the OIO decision would have “no impact” on that buyback. It said it did not know if HNA would appeal against the decision.

今年1月，澳新銀行宣佈出售UDC，這是該行完成30億澳元（合23億美元）出售努力——主要集中在亞洲——的一部分。澳新銀行週一表示，在今年剝離一系列非核心業務之後，它將回購15億澳元的股票。該行表示海外投資辦公室的這一決定對此次回購“沒有任何影響”。它表示不清楚海航是否會對這一決定提出上訴。

This month the Ardern government issued a directive to the Overseas Investment Office, which introduced hurdles for foreign companies buying rural land. Further changes to the overseas investment rules are expected to be announced next year.

本月阿德恩政府向海外投資辦公室作出指示，給外國企業收購農地增加了障礙。關於海外投資規則的進一步變化預計將於明年宣佈。