歐盟競爭事務新專員擬從嚴審查併購交易

Europe’s new antitrust chief has warned that telecoms mergers must not endanger “affordable prices” for consumers, in a shot across the bows of dealmaking executives that suggests takeovers will face tougher EU scrutiny.

歐洲新任反壟斷負責人瑪格麗特•維斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)警告說，電信業的併購不得危及消費者享有的“實惠價格”。這一警告意味着併購交易將面臨更嚴格的歐盟(EU)審查，從而向撮合交易的高管們潑下一頭冷水。

Margrethe Vestager — who vets all big EU mergers and oversees sensitive investigations ranging from US tech group Google’s alleged abuse of its dominant position to sweetheart tax deals for multinationals — wields far-reaching powers to impose hefty fines or block takeovers without court approval.

維斯特格負責審查歐盟所有大型併購交易，並負責多項十分敏感的調查——從谷歌(Google)涉嫌濫用其市場主導地位，到某些國家向跨國公司提供的優惠稅務安排。她擁有影響深遠的權力，無須法院批准就可施加鉅額罰款或禁止併購交易。

With a wave of proposed mergers reshaping markets from Britain to Denmark, Ms Vestager has stressed the need to avoid price increases in her most detailed comments on the telecoms sector since becoming EU competition commissioner. “I have one interest and that is to make sure that European consumers — that being citizens or businesses — can enjoy relatively innovative markets at affordable prices,” she said in a Financial Times interview.

目前，從英國到丹麥，一波擬議中的併購交易正在重塑市場格局。面對這一局面，維斯特格在有關電信業的言論中強調了避免漲價的必要性。這番言論是她出任歐盟競爭事務專員以來對電信業發表的最具體評論。她在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時表示：“我的興趣只有一個，那就是確保包括歐洲公民和企業在內的歐洲消費者，能以實惠價格享有相對創新的市場。”

Although she declined to discuss specific deals, her willingness to challenge the industry over the link between consolidation and increased investment will rattle a sector that thought it had won some regulatory leeway.

維斯特格拒絕討論具體交易。不過，她十分願意挑戰電信行業有關通過整合增加投資的說辭，此言將讓自認爲在監管方面贏得某些迴旋餘地的電信業產生恐慌。

A two-year M&A boom has tested competition rules and seen the acceptance of deals reducing the number of leading companies in national markets from four to three. Joaquín Almunia, Ms Vestager’s predecessor, cleared tie-ups in Austria, Ireland and Germany with conditions that a host of national competition authorities criticised as too soft.

在此之前，一場持續兩年的併購熱潮令反壟斷法規面臨考驗。在這輪併購熱潮中，監管機構曾批准那種會令全國市場中的頂尖企業數目從四家減至三家的併購交易。維斯特格的前任華金•阿爾穆尼亞(Joaquín Almunia)在批准奧地利、愛爾蘭和德國的併購交易時附加的條件，被多國反壟斷當局批評爲過於寬鬆。

Ms Vestager will probably be asked to weigh approval of at least three sensitive deals: the purchase of Jazztel by Orange in Spain; a Telenor and TeliaSonera merger in her Danish home market; and Hutchison Whampoa’s move to buy Telefónica’s UK operations.

維斯特格或許將審覈至少3筆敏感交易：Orange收購Jazztel（在西班牙）；Telenor與TeliaSonera合併（在維斯特格的故鄉丹麥）；以及和記黃埔(Hutchison Whampoa)收購Telefónica英國業務。

Asked whether consolidation had fostered investment in infrastructure, Ms Vestager said: “Actually I have seen a number of examples of the opposite. So far it seems as if it is still competition that will lead to investment and not the other way round.”

在被問到合併是否促進了基礎設施投資時，維斯特格表示：“事實上我看到了幾起相反的例子。迄今爲止，似乎還是競爭促進投資，而不是合併促進投資。”

She noted that the US market — held up as a success story by European executives — gave consumers “very little choice and higher prices than we do in Europe in general”.

她指出，在被歐洲高管引爲成功範例的美國市場，消費者“總體而言選擇比歐洲少，價格也比歐洲高”。

One of the most contentious moves would be shrinking the UK market to three rival mobile network operators — Vodafone, Three and EE, which is being acquired by BT.

最具爭議的舉動將是把英國市場的移動網絡運營商縮減爲3家——沃達豐(Vodafone)、Three和EE（EE正被英國電信(BT)收購）。

Vittorio Colao, chief executive of Vodafone, said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week that larger incumbents such as BT were seeking to benefit from their fixed-line monopolies. “It is clear that fewer players will emerge in the telecoms industry.”

沃達豐首席執行官維托裏奧•柯拉奧(Vittorio Colao)上週在巴塞羅那世界移動通信大會(Mobile World Congress)上表示，BT等規模較大的老牌運營商正謀求通過它們在固話領域的壟斷獲益。“顯然，電信行業的競爭者數量會減少。”

But other telecoms executives said privately that they were hopeful of continued support for mergers from the Brussels watchdog.

但其他電信業高管私下表示，他們認爲布魯塞爾的監管機構仍會繼續支持企業合併。