萬科向安邦示好 China Vanke warms to Anbang

China Vanke, the nation’s biggest homebuilder by sales, has welcomed an increased investment by Anbang Insurance, a week after warning that stake-building by a different insurer, Baoneng, could “ruin” the developer’s reputation.

中國銷售額最高的住宅開發商萬科集團(China Vanke)對安邦保險(Anbang Insurance)增持其股份表示歡迎。一週前，萬科曾警告另一家保險公司寶能(Baoneng)的增持行爲可能會“毀掉”萬科的信譽。

In a statement late on Wednesday, China Vanke said it had engaged in “effective” dialogue with Anbang, which had raised its shareholding in the property company from 4.5 per cent to 7 per cent over the last three weeks.

萬科週三晚發佈聲明稱，它與安邦進行了“卓有成效的溝通”。過去三週，安邦增持了萬科股份，持股比例從4.5%提升至7%。

“Anbang is an internationally renowned Chinese company, a respected professional investor, with strong capital strength and rich experience in overseas property investment,” China Vanke said.

萬科表示：“安邦保險集團是國際上著名的中國公司，是令人尊敬的專業投資者，具有強大的資本實力和豐富的海內外地產投資經驗。”

Privately held Anbang has been on a global spending spree, buying the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95bn last year and acquiring an office tower in Toronto earlier this year but failing in a recent bid to buy Portuguese lender Novo Banco.

安邦是一傢俬人控股企業，該公司已在全球範圍內掀起了一場收購熱潮，去年斥資19.5億美元收購了紐約華爾道夫酒店(Waldorf Astoria hotel)，今年早些時候在多倫多收購了一棟辦公樓，最近還參與競購葡萄牙銀行Novo Banco，但未獲成功。

By contrast, Baoneng, which has built up its holdings to become China Vanke’s biggest shareholder with a 23.5 per cent stake, is a more obscure insurance and property group with a much smaller war chest.

相比之下，保險與地產集團寶能不但名氣不如安邦，資本也遠不如安邦雄厚。寶能已增持萬科股份至23.5%，成爲萬科的最大股東。

Wang Shi, China Vanke’s chairman and founder, attacked Baoneng’s stakebuilding as something that “could ruin China Vanke’s greatest asset” which he said was “trust in the company’s brand”.

萬科董事長兼創始人王石抨擊寶能的增持“可能毀掉萬科最爲值錢的東西”，即“萬科的品牌信用”。

The public fight over corporate ownership at China Vanke has intrigued investors because Chinese companies typically prefer to resolve such disputes behind closed doors.

這場公開的萬科企業所有權之爭引起了投資者的興趣，因爲中國企業通常喜歡關上門解決此類糾紛。

In addition to being the country’s biggest homebuilder, analysts consider China Vanke one of the best-run property groups, with a strong focus on the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, whose property markets have largely defied the national real estate slump.

萬科不但是中國最大的住宅建築商，還是分析師眼中經營狀況最好的房地產集團之一。該公司的項目主要集中在北京、廣州、上海和深圳等城市，這些城市的房地產市場基本上沒有受到全國房地產不景氣影響。

However, the company has been seen as vulnerable to a hostile mergers and acquisitions activity because of its dispersed shareholding structure, unlike its rivals, which are mostly still controlled by their founders.

但是，由於萬科股權結構分散，人們認爲它很容易受到敵意併購活動的攻擊。萬科的競爭對手則不同，它們的股份大多仍掌控在創始人手中。

“This is a well-run company and it sticks to what it’s doing,” said Jeffrey Gao, a property analyst at Nomura in Hong Kong. “Around one third of its portfolio is in tier-one cities, it has the best corporate governance and disclosure and it has delivered double-digit sales growth each year, even in a bad market.”

野村(Nomura)駐香港的房地產分析師高劍鋒(Jeffrey Gao)表示：“萬科是一家經營狀況良好的公司，而且能堅持自己的路線。它旗下項目約有三分之一在一線城市，它的公司治理、信息披露都是最棒的，而且每年都能實現兩位數的銷售增長，哪怕是市場不景氣。”

Wang Shi is a charismatic figure who in recent years has focused on academic studies at the universities of Cambridge and Harvard as well as promoting environmental causes.

王石極富個人魅力，近些年他主要致力於在劍橋(Cambridge)和哈佛(Harvard)等大學深造，同時還致力推動環保事業。

He owns just 0.07 per cent of China Vanke, according to its latest half-year report, and the company is run on a day-to-day basis by Yu Liang, its president.

萬科最新的半年度財報顯示，王石僅持有萬科0.07%的股份，該公司的日常運營由總裁鬱亮負責。

As China’s insurance industry has grown rapidly in recent years, insurers have been stepping up their investments in the property sector both overseas and at home, where valuations have been hit by the economic slowdown.

隨着中國保險業近年來迅速增長，中國的保險公司不斷增加對國內外房地產行業的投資。在中國國內，房地產企業的估值已受到經濟增速放緩的衝擊。

Anbang said in a statement that it was optimistic about China Vanke’s prospects and that it wanted to see the management remain stable, describing the developer as “a benchmark for the industry” with the “best team” and the “most-recognised brand” in real estate.

安邦在一份聲明中稱萬科是“中國房地產行業公認的標杆企業，擁有業內最優秀的團隊和最受認可的品牌”，並表示看好萬科發展前景、希望萬科管理層保持穩定，

Trading in China Vanke’s Shenzhen-listed shares was suspended last Friday. The company said it is working on a “major asset restructuring”, which some investors have speculated could be designed to dilute Baoneng’s holding.

上週五，萬科在深圳股市上市的股票臨時停牌。該公司表示正在進行“重大資產重組”，部分投資者猜測萬科此舉可能是爲了稀釋寶能的控股。

China Vanke’s stock had jumped by nearly 70 per cent over the previous month, giving it a market capitalisation of around $40bn.

此前一個月，萬科的股價已上漲近70%，市值達到400億美元左右。