李嘉誠收購又一家英國公用事業企業大綱
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing has added to his collection of British utilities after a consortium led by his flagship Cheung Kong Holdingsagreed to buy Wales and West Utilities, the UK gas company, for £645m.
香港億萬富翁李嘉誠(Li Ka-shing)旗下的英國公用事業企業又多了一家，此前由長江實業(Cheung Kong Holdings)牽頭的一個財團同意斥資6.45億英鎊收購英國天然氣公司Wales and West Utilities(WWU)。
The deal adds another strand to Mr Li's long-term strategy of buying utilities in the UK, Canada and Australia because they offer stable regulatory environments, common law jurisdictions and predictable returns.
這筆交易是李嘉誠收購英國、加拿大和澳大利亞公用事業企業（因爲此類企業具有穩定的監管環境、普通法司法管轄以及可以預計的回報）的長期戰略的最新動作。
Wales and West Utilities manages gas transportation assets and gas distribution as well as meter services in Wales and the south west of England, the Cheung Kong-led consortium said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. The consortium was advised by Nomura.
長江實業牽頭的財團昨日在提交給香港交易所(HKEx)的一份聲明中表示，WWU公司在威爾士及英格蘭西南部從事管理天然氣運輸資產、天然氣輸配及氣表服務工作。野村(Nomura)爲該財團提供諮詢服務。
The company's distribution network supplies 7.4m customers over an area covering about one-sixth of the UK.
WWU公司的輸配網絡爲740萬客戶服務，覆蓋英國近六分之一國土。
The sellers of the company are a group that included vehicles for Macquarie's European and Global infrastructure funds, a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Boardand Australia's AMP Capital.
該公司的賣家是一個集團，包括麥格理(Macquarie)歐洲及全球基礎設施基金所管理的投資工具、加拿大養老金計劃投資委員會(Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)的一個子公司，以及澳大利亞的安保資本(AMP Capital)。
For the financial year ended March 31, Wales and West Utilities made a consolidated loss of £63.1m. Cheung Kong, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, and Power Assetswill each hold 30 per cent in the joint venture company, with Mr Li's private charitable foundation holding the remaining 10 per cent stake.
在截至3月31日的財年裏，WWU公司錄得6310萬英鎊的綜合虧損。長江實業、長江基建(Cheung Kong Infrastructure)以及電能實業(Power Assets)將分別持有合資公司30%股份，李嘉誠基金會將持有其餘10%股份。
Mr Li is well known for his preference for shopping for assets in a downturn. Last year, the billionaire's Cheung Kong Infrastructure acquired Northumbrian Water Groupin the UK for £2.41bn. Last week, CKI reported an 18 per cent rise in interim net profit mainly because of its UK portfolio, including Northumbrian.
李嘉誠素以在低迷期間買入資產聞名。去年，這位億萬富翁旗下的長江基建斥資24.1億英鎊收購英國Northumbrian Water Group。上週，長江基建報告中期淨利潤增長18%，主要得益於其英國資產組合（包括Northumbrian）。
In 2010, CKI paid £5.8bn for EDF's UK power grids as part of a consortium. The company's net profit for the six months to June reached HK$4.7bn (US$606m) and its UK portfolio was responsible for about half of its pre-tax profit.
2010年，由長江基建牽頭的一個財團斥資58億英鎊，購得法國電力公司(EDF)的英國電網資產。該公司在截至6月份的六個月期間實現淨利潤47億港元（合6.06億美元），英國資產組合貢獻了大約一半的稅前利潤。
CKI said last week it was well positioned to make further acquisitions as it had HK$8bn in cash and a 7 per cent net debt-to-equity ratio. CKI's gearing is comfortably lower than the 14.3 per cent it stood at in 2011, according to Bloomberg data. By the same measure, Centrica, the UK energy group, was at 65 per cent last year and the National Gridat 220 per cent.
長江基建上週表示，該公司在進行進一步收購方面處於有利地位，因其擁有80億港元現金和7%的淨債務/股本比率。彭博(Bloomberg)數據顯示，長江基建目前的槓桿率遠低於2011年時的14.3%，地位相當有利。按同一衡量標準，英國能源集團Centrica去年的槓桿率爲65%，英國國家電網(National Grid)的槓桿率更高達220%。
