中國外管局入股意大利投行

Funds affiliated with China’s central bank have bought a minority stake in Mediobanca, Italy’s pre-eminent investment bank, highlighting China’s willingness to place a long-term bet on the eurozone’s troubled periphery.

中國央行(PBoC)下屬機構已購入意大利知名投行Mediobanca少數股權，突顯出中國願意長期押注於陷入困境的歐元區外圍國家。

The disclosure that the People’s Bank of China had taken a 2.001 per cent stake in the Italian lender this month was made in a note by the Italian stock market regulator yesterday.

意大利股市監管機構昨日在簡報中披露，中國央行本月已購入該意大利銀行2.001%股權。

It marks the latest foray into the eurozone’s third-largest economy by the central bank’s investment arm, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe), which manages the country’s $4tn in reserves.

這是中國央行下屬投資機構——中國國家外匯管理局(Safe)進軍歐元區第三大經濟體的最新舉措。外管局管理着中國4萬億美元的外匯儲備。

Safe has spent an estimated more than 2.5bn on stakes of about 2 per cent each in five of Italy’s largest companies: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Telecom Italia, Prysmian and state-controlled energy groups Eni and Enel.

據估計，外管局已斥資逾25億歐元分別購入意大利5家最大企業約2%的股權，這些企業包括菲亞特-克萊斯勒汽車公司(Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)、意大利電信(Telecom Italia)、普睿司曼(Prysmian)以及國有控股的能源集團埃尼(Eni)和意大利國家電力公司(Enel)。

The move demonstrates how the central bank’s semi-autonomous investment arm has departed from its traditionally conservative strategy as yields on fixed income assets have fallen in recent years.

此舉表明，隨着最近幾年固定收益資產收益率下滑，隸屬於中國央行的這家半自治投資機構已放棄傳統上的保守戰略。

Italy has been one of the main focal points of Chinese investment into Europe in recent years with an estimated 5bn spent in what has been dubbed as the dawn of a second Marshall Plan for the continent’s troubled periphery.

最近幾年，意大利成爲中國投資歐洲的主要關注點之一，據估計，中國已投資50億歐元，這被稱爲針對歐洲陷入困境的外圍國家的第二個馬歇爾計劃(Marshall Plan)的開端。

“I don’t think these are strategic investments, I think these are financial investments, and they will continue,” said Innocenzo Cipolletta, an economist at the University of Trento.

特倫託大學(University of Trento)經濟學家因諾琴佐•奇普列塔(Innocenzo Cipolletta)表示：“我不認爲這些是戰略投資，我認爲它們是金融投資，這些投資將繼續。”

“If you believe the euro will remain, it’s better to invest in a country at the low point in its economic cycle than one at a high point – you can take the upside,” Mr Cipolletta added.

奇普列塔補充稱：“如果你相信歐元仍將存活的話，那麼在一國經濟週期低點投資於該國要比在高點時投資更好，你可以獲利於上升週期。”

The Italian government has been enthusiastically supporting Chinese investment in the eurozone’s troubled third-largest economy, with few signs of any political backlash to the cash pouring into the country from Beijing.

意大利政府一直熱情支持中國對歐元區這個陷入困境的第三大經濟體的投資，該國政界沒有什麼反對中國資金大量涌入的跡象。

“We must bring more China to Italy and take more Italy to China,” Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, said last week as he met with Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, in Rome and signed 8bn of commercial deals between the two countries.

意大利總理馬泰奧•倫齊(Matteo Renzi)上週在與中國總理李克強會晤時表示：“我們必須讓更多的中國進入意大利，也讓更多的意大利進入中國。”兩國簽署了價值80億歐元的商業協議。

“We are welcoming every new institutional investor,” Mediobanca said.

Mediobanca表示：“我們歡迎每一個新的機構投資者。”

Safe’s emergence as a shareholder of Mediobanca comes just as Italy’s largest investment bank is in the middle of a strategic drive to internationalise its business and sell 1.6bn in equity stakes that have held it at the centre of Italian corporate power for half a century.

在中國外管局成爲Mediobanca股東之際，這家意大利最大的投資銀行正在實施業務國際化的戰略舉措，並出售16億歐元的股權——半個世紀以來這些股權使其處於意大利企業實力的核心。

Alberto Nagel, the lender’s chief executive, unveiled a wide-reaching plan a year ago aiming to cut its stakes in insurer Generali, Telecom Italia and RCS Mediagroup as it switched to focus on European expansion, investment banking and its retail banking business.

Mediobanca首席執行官阿爾貝託•納格爾(Alberto Nagel)一年前拿出一份影響深遠的計劃，目的是減持其在忠利保險(Generali)、意大利電信(Telecom Italia)和RCS Mediagroup的股份，轉而專注於歐洲範圍的擴張、投行業務以及該行的零售銀行業務。

He also hired Stefano Marsaglia from Barclays last year to co-head its investment bank with a view to transform Mediobanca’s London office into its European hub for all sector and capital market teams. Shares in Mediobanca rose 4.1 per cent to 6.61, giving the bank a market capitalisation of 5.7bn.

納格爾去年還聘請巴克萊(Barclays)的斯特凡諾•馬薩格利亞(Stefano Marsaglia)擔任其投行業務聯合主管，目的是將Mediobanca的倫敦辦公室轉型爲所有行業和資本市場團隊的歐洲中心。Mediobanca的股價上漲4.1%，至每股6.61歐元，使該行市值達到57億歐元。