不良債務投資機構"海岸投資"遭遇生存危機

Shoreline Capital, a Chinese distressed debt investor with more than $1.5bn in assets under management, is in turmoil and losing staff at a time when it should be benefiting from mainland banks’ efforts to deal with problem loans.

海岸投資(Shoreline Capital)是中國的一家不良債務投資機構，總部在廣州，管理着逾15億美元資產，在其本應受益於國內銀行着手處理不良貸款問題所帶來的機會之際，該公司卻陷入動盪，人員出走。

Disputes between the two principal founders about the fundamental direction of the Guangzhou-based investment firm and a series of defections could now jeopardise its survival, according to five people involved with the business as investors and employees.

據五位相關人士（包括投資人和員工）透露，兩位主要創始人圍繞公司發展的根本方向存在意見分歧，加上員工紛紛離職，可能危及公司的生存。

At least 14 investment professionals have left a firm that described itself has having “more than 20” — and investors will soon be asked to decide whether they want to leave their money with the firm or want its funds wound up.

至少已有14名專業投資人士出走——該公司曾自稱擁有“20多名”專業人士。投資者很快將被要求做出決定：他們是希望把資金繼續託付給這家機構，還是希望其旗下基金終止。

“The timing is very ironic . . . If we were all on the same page, we could even be raising a new fund,” said one key principal at Shoreline.

海岸投資的一位重要負責人稱：“這個時點太諷刺了……如果我們意見都一致的話，我們甚至可能在募集一隻新基金了。”

Ben Fanger and Xiaolin Zhang, who met at the University of Chicago, established the firm in 2004, and it has successfully raised three funds, all in US dollars, from a group of blue-chip investors including the Duke University endowment.

方傑明(Ben Fanger)和張曉琳相識於芝加哥大學(University of Chicago)，2004年聯手創辦了海岸投資。至今海岸投資已從包括杜克大學(Duke University)捐贈基金在內的藍籌投資者那裏成功募集3只基金，都以美元募資。

When Shoreline was raising the current fund in 2015, Mr Fanger predicted an “unprecedented’ increase in the supply of non-performing loans (NPLs) as a result of the lending boom between 2009 and 2011 in the wake of the global financial crisis.

2015年海岸投資正在募集當前這隻基金的時候，方傑明就預測，在全球金融危機之後，由於從2009年至2011年間的信貸熱潮，不良貸款供應將出現“空前”增長。

But problems began earlier this year when the current fund, which manages more than $500m, had invested about 80 per cent of that money, according to the people.

但據上述人士表示，今年早些時候，問題就開始出現了，當時海岸投資最新募集的基金已將大約80%的資金用於投資，這隻基金管理着逾5億美元資金。

Ms Zhang and Mr Fanger then began to talk about what to do next. Mr Fanger wished to raise another dollar-based fund similar to the previous three, he said on a recorded conference call with investors in late May.

張曉琳和方傑明於是開始討論下一步怎麼做。方傑明希望再募集一隻與前3只基金類似的美元基金，他是在5月底與投資者的一次錄音電話會議上說這番話的。

Ms Zhang, though, raised the idea of launching a big fund in renminbi with an entirely different, local investor base, some staff, Mr Fanger and investors say.

然而一些員工、方傑明以及投資者表示，張曉琳提出的想法是發行一隻有着完全不同的投資者基礎（由本土投資者構成）的大型人民幣基金。

“We had differing views on how to grow and keep the long-term team together,” Mr Fanger said on the taped conference call. “Banks are aggressively selling NPLs and that is good for us. What was not so good was people throwing money at us. Xiaolin wanted more types of capital and more sources of capital.”

“我們對於如何發展以及如何凝聚長期團隊有着不同的看法，”方傑明在這次錄音電話會議上表示，“銀行正在大力出售不良貸款，這對我們有利。不太好的情況是人們正砸錢給我們。曉琳希望獲得更多種類和更多來源的資金。”

Ms Zhang and Mr Fanger declined to comment for this article

張曉琳和方傑明拒絕就這篇文章置評。

Through March, April and May, the two debated about what their strategy should be for the next fundraising. At the same time, employees started to leave. Some of them decided to launch a new fund which they named Shorevest.

從3月、4月直到5月，兩人就下一輪融資應採取何種戰略展開爭論。同時，員工開始離開。其中一些員工決定發起一隻新基金，他們給它命名爲Shorevest。

Investors say they only became aware of the extent of both the dispute and the departures in the past month or two.

投資者表示，他們近一兩個月才得知情況有多嚴重，包括兩人之間的分歧和員工離職情況。

Then, in early June, Mr Fanger decided to leave and join Shorevest as well, according to these people. He and Ms Zhang then signed a separation agreement.

據這些知情人士稱，6月初，方傑明決定離開，也加入Shorevest。接着他和張曉琳簽訂了一份分離協議。

“The split stemmed largely from my unwillingness to pursue certain business interests that I believe are inconsistent with our investors’ objectives,” Mr Fanger wrote in a June 6 letter to investors seen by the Financial Times. “Before our agreement to separate, I pushed for Xiaolin and I to find a way for us to manage the existing Shoreline funds together. But Xiaolin expressed an uncompromising desire to go forward managing Shoreline and its funds on her own.”

“分開主要是因爲我不願追求某些我認爲與我們投資者的目標不一致的商業利益，”方傑明在6月6日一封致投資者的信中寫道，“在我們協議分開之前，我曾力促曉琳和我找到一個我們可以共同管理海岸現有基金的方法。但曉琳表達了一種堅定不妥協的願望，希望由她自己繼續管理海岸及其基金。”英國《金融時報》看到了這封信。

Ms Zhang then emailed investors a few days later apologising for the “confusion of the separation of Ben and me, and “told them she was offering enhanced transparency” by appointing a third party to monitor the “very healthy” investment portfolio.

幾天後，張曉琳給投資者發電郵，爲“方傑明和我分開所引起的困惑”致歉，並“告訴他們她正提高透明度”，已委任第三方監督“非常健康”的投資組合。

His departure last week triggered a clause in the agreement with investors that says if one of the two founders leaves, the fund is barred from making further investments.

方傑明上週的辭職觸發了與投資者協議中的一項條款，該條款規定，如果兩位創始人之一離職，該基金將不得繼續投資。

It is not clear what will happen to Shoreline’s existing investments. Investors appear to have three choices: let Ms Zhang keep managing the portfolio, demand that the fund be wound down as quickly as possible while avoiding a fire sale, or transfer the fund’s assets to another investment firm entirely.

目前還不清楚，海岸現有的投資將發生什麼變化。投資者似乎有3種選擇：讓張曉琳繼續管理投資組合、要求儘快關閉基金同時避免資產賤價出售、或者將該基金資產完全轉移到另一家投資機構。

“As part of my separation agreement with Xiaolin, we agreed Shoreline would declare an Event of Termination for Fund II and Fund III, so that Shoreline’s focus would be on exiting assets in an orderly manner, rather than new investments (although Xiaolin has communicated she intends to reconsider declaring an Event of Termination),” Mr Fanger said in the June 6 letter.

方傑明在6月6日的信中表示：“作爲我與曉琳分離協議的一部分，我們同意海岸將宣佈基金II和基金III終止協議，這樣海岸的重點將以一種有序的方式放在現有資產方面，而不是新投資（儘管曉琳表示過她打算重新考慮關於宣佈終止協議的事情）。”

To some investors, the problems at Shoreline are about a failure to evolve as the firm grew. In their view, Ms Zhang was too focused on raising the next fund and not concentrating enough on managing the current one, as required by their agreements with investors. Some staff who left, meanwhile, felt the founders failed to share enough of the profits with them.

在一些投資者看來，海岸投資的問題在於管理層沒有隨着公司發展而轉變。他們認爲，張曉琳偏重於募集下一隻基金，沒有按照與投資者簽署的協議中的規定，把足夠多的精力放在管理現有基金。另一方面，一些離職員工認爲創始人未能與他們合理分享利潤。

People will write this off as another bad Chinese investment story,” says one long-time investor. “Sometimes in the go- go atmosphere in China, the short term opportunities can overwhelm the contractual obligations.”

“人們會把這當做另一個糟糕的中國投資故事，”一位長線投資者表示，“有時，在中國這種熱火朝天的氛圍下，短期機遇可能凌駕於合同義務之上。”

Meanwhile, one investment firm just starting to dabble in distressed debt in China and anticipating a massive increase in the stock of bad loans for sale says ”we are licking our chops.”

與此同時，一家剛開始涉足中國不良債務領域、預期不良貸款出售規模將大量增加的投資機構表示；“我們正垂涎不已。”