軟銀和沙特的天價聯姻
Not for the first time in his career, a problem of resources was preventing Masayoshi Son, the billionaire Japanese technology investor, from realising his ambitions.
日本科技投資者、億萬富翁孫正義(Masayoshi Son)實現自身抱負的腳步，正面臨資源不足的阻礙，這種情況在他的職業生涯中並不是第一次出現。
His company SoftBank had recently stretched its balance sheet to splash $32bn on UK chip designer Arm. But the serial dealmaker, who believes in his ability to see into the future, wanted more. So where would Mr Son find the big sums still needed to act on his latest vision of a world where humans, devices and the internet are more closely integrated?
他的公司軟銀(SoftBank)最近從資產負債表中擠出320億美元，收購了英國芯片設計公司ARM。但這位相信自己洞察未來能力的連續交易者還想要更多。那麼他要去哪裏尋找大筆款項，以實現他心中最新的願景——一個人、設備和互聯網更緊密結合的世界呢？
The answer arrived on 13 planes. They carried a 500-strong state delegation from Saudi Arabia to Tokyo last month. Leading it was the reformist Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, known by his initials MBS.
答案是隨着13架飛機到來的。來自沙特阿拉伯的500人國家代表團上月乘機抵達東京。這個代表團的帶隊者是沙特的改革派副王儲穆罕默德•本•薩勒曼•阿勒沙特(Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud)，他以姓名首字母縮寫“MBS”爲人所知。
Luckily for Mr Son, the prince was a man in a hurry with his own programme — “Vision 2030”, targeting a radical modernisation of the Gulf country.
對孫正義而言幸運的是，穆罕默德也正急於推行他自己的計劃——旨在讓這個海灣國家實現徹底現代化的“願景2030”(Vision 2030)。
Six weeks later, the two men would meet in Riyadh to launch plans for the largest private fund of its sort ever created — a $100bn partnership that will allow Mr Son to invest in the future of technology and for Saudi Arabia potentially to reap the benefits.
約6周後，兩人在利雅得會面，啓動建立一支有史以來規模最大的私募基金的計劃——得益於這個價值1000億美元的合作項目，孫正義將能夠投資科技業的未來，而沙特也有可能從中獲益。
On paper now is a non-binding agreement for the creation of a SoftBank subsidiary based in London. Over the next five years, Saudi Arabia has committed up to $45bn, while SoftBank has promised at least $25bn. A further $30bn is being sought from “a few large global investors”.
現在已經落實到紙面上的是一項非約束性協議，約定在倫敦建立一個軟銀分支機構。在接下來5年中，沙特承諾對該基金注資最多450億美元，而軟銀承諾至少注資250億美元。雙方正尋求從“幾個大型全球投資者”那裏募集另外300億美元的資金。
The initial reaction to the SoftBank Vision Fund has been a mixture of awe and scepticism. Awe since the scale is equal to all the money raised by the US venture capital industry in the past 30 months. Scepticism because questions abound as to whether the parties are truly committed to funding and seeing through the unprecedented project.
外界對軟銀願景基金(SoftBank Vision Fund)的最初反應混雜了驚歎和懷疑。人們驚歎的是這個基金的規模相當於過去30個月美國風投行業募集的資金總額。懷疑則是因爲，有關各方是不是真的決心履行注資承諾並將這個史無前例的項目進行下去，還存在種種疑問。
Even the insinuation of doubt, however, draws a rebuke from those closest to the plans. “What this isn’t is a couple of guys throwing money around,” says one of these people. Another adds: “This is a marriage of minds. The Saudis want to bring technology to their country and Masa [Mr Son] wants to be the largest technology player in the world.”
然而，即使是這種含蓄的懷疑，也遭到了解該計劃內情的人士的駁斥。“這不是幾個人四處撒錢的計劃，”其中一人說。另一個人補充道：“這是思想的聯姻。沙特人希望將技術帶向他們的國家，而孫正義則希望成爲世界上最大的科技業參與者。”
The unlikely marriage led from a courtship during the state visit to Japan in early September. Mr Son had been considering innovative financing arrangements for months, given the scale of his ambitions and his frustration with public market investors, who he feels take too long to understand his big “crazy ideas”. When SoftBank decided to purchase Arm, it was slowed by the need to liquidate parts of its holdings to fund the transaction, which also pushed the company’s net debt to a staggering $105bn.
這場看似不太可能的聯姻源於沙特9月初對日本進行國事訪問期間孫正義的主動爭取。考慮到自己的抱負之大及自己對公開市場投資者的失望（孫正義感到他們要理解他宏大的“瘋狂的想法”所需要的時間太長），孫正義此前數月都在構思一種創新融資安排。軟銀對ARM的收購因爲該公司需要將部分持股變現，以便爲該交易提供資金而節奏變慢，該交易也使軟銀的淨負債上升至驚人的1050億美元。
To solve the problem, Mr Son enlisted SoftBank executive Rajeev Misra, an ex-debt trader who in 2006 helped SoftBank structure a complicated takeover of Vodafone Japan, to explore alternative pools of capital. Mr Misra, who will lead the new fund, asked two former colleagues from Deutsche Bank — Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu — to field interest from potential partners.
爲了解決這個問題，孫正義委任軟銀高管拉吉夫•米斯拉(Rajeev Misra)研究其他可能的資金來源。米斯拉是一名前債務交易者，他曾在2006年幫助軟銀通過種種安排實現對沃達豐(Vodafone)日本業務的複雜收購。即將領導這個新基金的米斯拉，找來了他在德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)的兩名前同事——尼扎爾•巴薩姆(Nizar Al-Bassam)和達林克•阿里伯努(Dalinc Ariburnu)，來回應潛在合作伙伴的興趣。
Senior Saudi officials were among those contacted by Mr Al-Bassam and Mr Ariburnu. In short order, a series of meetings with SoftBank were arranged during the Saudi delegation’s visit.
巴薩姆和阿里伯努聯絡的人中包括沙特的高官。很快，相關人員便安排好沙特官員與軟銀在沙特代表團訪日期間進行一系列會面。
Before seeing MBS, Mr Son honed his pitch with some of the royal court’s closest advisers: Yasir Alrumayyan, the secretary-general of the state Public Investment Fund (PIF); Khalid al-Falih, the influential energy minister and chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco; and Majed Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi, the commerce and investment minister. Each pressed the SoftBank founder about the strategy and how it could fit in with their attempts to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil.
在與穆罕默德見面之前，孫正義在與沙特王室最親密的一些顧問的互動中完善了自己爭取合作的思路，這些顧問包括：沙特國有的公共投資基金(PIF)祕書長亞西爾•魯馬揚(Yasir al-Rumayyan)；具有影響力的沙特石油部長、國有的沙特阿美公司(Saudi Aramco)董事長哈立德•法立赫(Khalid al-Falih)；沙特商業和投資部長馬吉德•本•阿卜杜拉•卡薩比(Majed Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi)。他們中的每個人都逼問軟銀創始人孫正義有關戰略的問題，以及該戰略如何能契合他們徹底改革沙特阿拉伯經濟、減少對石油依賴的嘗試。
Not only did Mr Son give examples of how SoftBank could help with the transformation of the country, but the technology mogul also boasted about his investment record and his ability to pick winners including China’s ecommerce leader Alibaba, mobile gaming company Supercell and Yahoo Japan.
孫正義不僅舉例說明了軟銀能如何幫助沙特轉型，還誇耀了自己的投資記錄以及挑選優秀企業的慧眼，他挑中的企業包括中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴(Alibaba)、移動遊戲公司Supercell和雅虎日本(Yahoo Japan)。
After a courtesy visit with the Japanese emperor, meetings with the chairman of Hitachi and the heads of Japanese banks, it was time for MBS — an admirer of Japanese culture — to hear Mr Son’s presentation. Joined by his advisers, the deputy crown prince was hosted at the palatial Geihinkan state guesthouse in central Tokyo.
在禮節性拜訪日本天皇，與日立(Hitachi)董事長和日本銀行業高管們會晤之後，日本文化的傾慕者穆罕默德聽取孫正義陳述的時候到了。這位沙特副王儲在顧問們的陪同下，在東京市中心富麗堂皇的國賓館接受了款待。
The meeting was a resounding success. MBS left with a request for Mr Son to visit Saudi Arabia and spend time there better to understand the country. Saudi officials and advisers were dispatched to conduct due diligence confidentially on SoftBank and its portfolio companies.
此次會晤取得了巨大的成功。穆罕默德臨走時邀請孫正義去沙特，並希望後者最好能多呆一些時間以瞭解這個國家。沙特官員和顧問們被派出對軟銀及其投資的諸多公司展開祕密盡職調查。
A Japanese official said Mr Son found a kindred spirit in MBS, who, aged 31, projects an image of youthful purpose in a kingdom accustomed to a slow pace of consensual rule. “MBS also thinks that the speed of decision-making is very important,” said the official. He added that Mr Son’s contact book among tech entrepreneurs would dovetail well with the financial firepower that Saudi Arabia wants to deploy in the coming years, despite economic challenges at home because of low oil prices.
一位日本官員表示，孫正義與穆罕默德意氣相投，在一個習慣於一致同意原則的緩慢節奏的王國裏，31歲的穆罕默德展現出年輕人的那種果斷。這位官員稱：“穆罕默德也認爲，決策速度非常重要。”他補充稱，孫正義與衆多科技企業家相熟，這將與沙特希望在今後幾年大舉投資相得益彰——儘管沙特國內經濟由於油價低企正面臨挑戰。
Yoshiki Hatanaka, a Middle East expert and adviser at International Development Centre of Japan, says: “In order for Saudi Arabia to attract investment in the future, it needed a flagship and eye-catching deal with someone who is a quick decision maker and internationally well-known. There are few in Japan other than SoftBank.”
中東問題專家、日本國際發展中心(International Development Centre)的顧問畑中美樹(Yoshiki Hatanaka)表示：“沙特要想在未來吸引投資，就需要和一位果斷決策的國際知名人士簽署引人注目的旗艦協議。日本再沒有比軟銀更合適的選擇了。”
Last week, Mr Son arrived in Saudi Arabia. He toured oilfields and visited Aramco, where he learnt about the state oil company’s engineering and robotics capabilities. Mr Son was particularly impressed with a robot that is able to clean solar cells, one person says, adding that other partnerships are under way between SoftBank and the Saudis.
上週，孫正義抵達了沙特。他參觀了油田，並拜訪了沙特阿美公司，在那裏他了解了這家國有石油公司在工程和機器人領域的能力。知情人士表示，孫正義尤其對能夠清潔太陽能電池的機器人印象深刻，這位人士補充稱，軟銀和沙特正在洽談其他合作協議。
Time was also spent with the PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and its leadership. Although the source of the Saudi funding has not been disclosed, the contribution is likely to consist of money from the PIF and later from the listing of Aramco, which is expected to be the largest initial public offering ever when it takes place in 2018 and raises tens of billions of dollars.
孫正義還去拜訪了沙特主權財富基金——公共投資基金，與其領導層進行了會面。儘管沙特方面沒有透露資金來源，但來源可能包括公共投資基金的資金以及隨後沙特阿美公司上市所籌集資金。沙特阿美公司計劃在2018年上市，籌資數百億美元資金，屆時有望成爲有史以來規模最大的首次公開發行(IPO)。
More controversially, Saudi Arabia will probably draw funds for the project from its liquid securities, fixed-income and currencies holdings, which are controlled by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. PIF is taking over a large part of Sama’s $562bn reserves, a banker close to the Saudi government says, thereby giving the new wealth fund greater financial firepower to fund deals such as the SoftBank tech fund.
更具爭議性的是，沙特很可能從所持易於變現的證券（固定收益以及外匯資產）中抽取資金，這些如今都是由沙特阿拉伯貨幣局(SAMA)控制的。一位與沙特政府關係密切的銀行業者表示，公共投資基金將接管SAMA 5620億美元儲備資金中的一大部分，從而讓這家成立不久的財富基金擁有更多財力爲軟銀科技基金這類協議提供資金。
By the end of the visit, the two men racing to remake their respective worlds had consummated a deal and built a significant chemistry, although the specifics of their business relationship and the future direction of investments remain something of a mystery.
在訪問結束之際，這兩個趕着重塑各自世界的男人敲定了協議，並建立了顯著的默契——儘管兩人商業關係的具體細節以及未來投資方向依然不得而知。
“Masa believes there are enough things out there to buy,” says someone who has worked closely with Mr Son. “It won’t be classic leverage buy-out or venture investing; it will be his own unique brand of identifying opportunities.”
一位與孫正義緊密合作的人士表示：“孫正義相信，有足夠多的目標可供收購。不會是經典的槓桿收購或者風險投資；它將是孫正義自己獨有的那種識別機遇的投資。”
