恒大拟收购英国住宅建筑商

China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande Group, is in talks to buy the UK housebuilder Cala Homes in what would be the first Chinese venture into the UK’s large-scale housebuilding sector.

中国第二大房地产开发商恒大集团(Evergrande Group)正洽谈收购英国住宅建筑商Cala Homes，如果收购成功，这将是中资企业首次将并购触角伸向英国大规模住宅建筑领域。

A sale would offer a potential exit for Cala’s investors, the insurer Legal & General and the real estate specialists Patron Capital, which bought the company in 2013 from Lloyds Banking Group.

此次出售将为Cala的股东——英国法通保险公司(Legal & General)以及房地产专家Patron Capital提供一次潜在的退出机会。2013年，这两家公司从劳埃德银行集团(Lloyds Banking Group)手中买下了Cala。

But people close to the talks stressed that they were “preliminary” in nature and that no deal was guaranteed.

但接近谈判的人士强调，他们正在“初步”接触，不一定能够达成协议。

Hong Kong-listed Evergrande approached Cala’s owners some months ago about a potential purchase, according to three people briefed on the discussions. This prompted L&G and Patron to engage investment bankers at Lazard to advise them on the talks. Evergrande is being advised by KPMG.

三位消息人士称，几个月前，在香港上市的恒大集团接触了Cala的股东，提出可能的收购事宜。这促使法通保险公司和Patron Capital聘请瑞德(Lazard)的投资银行家为谈判提供咨询。恒大由毕马威(KPMG)提供咨询。

Cala’s owners are not thought to be in discussions with other potential buyers, but one person close to the discussions said that “nothing is off the table”, including a stock market listing of the company.

据认为，Cala的股东并未与其他潜在买家商谈，但一位知情人士说，“未排除任何选项”，包括把Cala推到股票市场上市。

Cala said: “Thanks to the quality of our brand and strong financial and trading performance, from time to time we may find ourselves the subject of speculation but from our perspective it is very much business as usual.”

Cala表示：“鉴于我们拥有优质的品牌，并且在财务和经营方面表现强劲，我们不时会发现自己成为猜测的对象，但从我们的视角看，业务一切如常。”

Evergrande has little experience of housebuilding outside its home market. While Chinese property developers are active in the UK — Dalian Wanda, for example, is constructing a residential scheme in London — there have been no Chinese takeovers of UK housebuilders.

恒大几乎没有在国内市场以外的住宅建筑经验。尽管中国房地产开发商在英国表现活跃——例如，大连万达(Dalian Wanda)正在伦敦兴建一个住宅项目——但中国企业还没有收购过英国房屋建筑商。

Cala, which built 1,150 homes in the year to June, focuses on higher-priced property in south-east England while also operating in Scotland and the Midlands.

在截止今年6月的一年里，Cala已建成1150套住屋。该公司主要在英格兰东南部开发较高价格的物业项目，同时也在苏格兰和英格兰中部开展业务。

L&G and Patron each bought a 46.5 per cent stake in Cala in 2013, with Cala’s management acquiring 7 per cent in a deal that valued the company at ￡210m. Its output has since risen and analysts at Barclays earlier this year said L&G’s stake was worth about ￡380m.

2013年，法通保险公司和Patron Capital分别收购了Cala 46.5%的股权，Cala管理层收购了7%的股权——那笔交易对公司的估值为2.1亿英镑。自那以来，Cala的房屋建造量有所上升。今年早些时候，巴克莱(Barclays)分析师表示，法通保险公司所持的Cala股权价值约为3.8亿英镑。

L&G, Patron and Lazard declined to comment. Evergrande had not res-ponded to a request for comment at publication time.

法通保险公司、Patron Capital和瑞德拒绝置评。截止交稿时，恒大没有回复记者的置评请求。