中國資本涌入歐洲尖端技術產業引發擔憂

HONG KONG — After a customer canceled a large order at the last minute, shares in Aixtron, a German high-tech company, sank fast.

香港——一個客戶在最後時刻取消一筆大訂單後，德國高科技公司愛思強(Aixtron)的股價迅速下滑。

Months later, with the stock still reeling, a Chinese investor agreed to buy the company.

數月後，在其股價依然萎靡不振之際，一箇中國投資者同意買下公司。

If only it were as simple as smart deal-making.

如果此事真是這麼簡單，只是有人做出了明智的交易決策就好了。

Financial filings and public statements indicate a web of relationships among the customer, the buyer and the Chinese state.

然而，根據提交給金融監管機構的文件及該公司公告顯示，那名客戶、買家與中國政府之間存在一個關係網。

The links highlight the blurred lines between increasingly acquisitive Chinese companies and Beijing’s long-term industrial policy.

這種關聯，突顯出胃口越來越大的中國企業和北京的長期產業政策之間頗爲模糊的界限。

The Aixtron case makes it very clear: It is not regular investment that is at work here, said Sebastian Heilmann, president of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank based in Berlin.

愛思強的例子非常清晰地表明：這並不是常規的投資，在位於柏林的智庫墨卡託中國研究中心(Mercator Institute for China Studies) 擔任主管的韓博天(Sebastian Heilmann)說。

Instead, we see governmental-program capital working behind the scenes.

相反，我們看到受政府控制的資本在幕後發揮着作用。

Chinese leaders have made clear their intention of using state funds to acquire technological capabilities overseas and bring them home, and a series of purchases in recent years have highlighted that strategy.

中國領導人表明了利用國家基金獲取並引入海外技術能力的意圖。近年來的一系列收購也突顯了這一策略。

That has led to questions about how to treat bids that cross between private investment and state-orchestrated takeovers. It has also fed into broader suspicions about the fate of the takeover targets, and whether national champions will ultimately be absorbed into the supply chain in China.

這引發了一個問題：如果要約既涉及私人投資，又涉及由政府策劃的收購，該如何對待？它還引發了關於收購目標未來命運如何的疑問，以及這些全國性龍頭企業最終是否會被納入中國供應鏈。

Aixtron — one of a growing number of European businesses with cutting-edge technologies that have recently been targeted by a surge in Chinese overseas investment — provides a case study.

近年來，隨着中國在海外掀起投資熱潮，越來越多擁有尖端技術的歐洲企業成了它的目標。作爲其中一員，愛思強提供了一個可資研究的案例。

A university spinoff, it employs hundreds of highly skilled engineers and has a decades-long history of making the advanced tools needed to make semiconductors.

作爲大學衍生企業，愛思強僱用了數百名技能高超的工程師，在生產製造半導體所需先進工具方面擁有數十年經驗。

Its systems can deposit layers of chemicals just atoms thick that grow the crystals needed to make chips and light-emitting diodes.

它的系統可以讓化學品進行原子層沉積，由此生成的晶體是生產芯片和發光二極管的必需品。

It was facing a broad slowdown in demand in 2015 when San’an Optoelectronics, based in the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, canceled a large order at the last minute.

在2015年，中國東部城市廈門的三安光電公司在最後時刻撤銷了一筆大訂單，這讓愛思強遭遇了需求全面下降的狀況。

The decision sent Aixtron’s share price crashing.

這個決定導致愛思強的股價大幅下挫。

By May of this year, it had agreed to sell itself to a Chinese investment fund, Fujian Grand Chip.

到了今年5月，它接受了中國投資基金福建宏芯的收購要約。

Yet in a twist that shows the conflicting interests that can lurk behind Chinese deals, San’an has a number of connections to Fujian Grand Chip, including a common investor and an existing financial relationship.

不過，三安光電和福建宏芯有許多關聯，其中牽涉到一名共同投資人和一種既有的財務關係。這顯示了牽涉中國的交易背後，常常隱藏着利益衝突。

Fujian Grand Chip is 51 percent controlled by Liu Zhendong, a businessman the Mercator Institute said most likely had government connections but was otherwise hard to track.

商人劉振東持有福建宏芯51%的股份。墨卡託中心稱其極可能和政府有瓜葛，但這一點難以追查。

The rest is held by Xiamen Bohao, a local government investment fund that itself has links to San’an.

受控於當地政府的投資基金廈門博灝持有其餘的股份，它本身和三安光電有關。

A financial filing showed that at the end of 2014, San’an owed Bohao 300 million renminbi, now worth about $45 million.

提交給金融監管部門的一份文件顯示，2014年底，三安光電欠廈門博灝3億元人民幣，約合現在的4500萬美元。

The following year, another filing showed Bohao owed San’an 240 million renminbi.

次年另一份文件顯示，廈門博灝欠三安光電2.4億元人民幣。

While there is no explanation given for the fund flows, they appear to be related to financing provided to San’an by Bohao.

儘管文件未對上述資金流動做出說明，但它們似乎和廈門博灝爲三安光電提供資金支持有關。

There are other links as well.

二者之間還存在其他一些關聯。

Another state-run investment firm based in Xiamen holds stakes in both companies.

廈門的另一家國有投資企業在這兩家公司裏都持有股份。

And a broader national investment fund is providing a loan facility, through a subsidiary, for the takeover of Aixtron while holding a stake in San’an.

此外，一家業務範圍更廣的全國性投資基金在三安光電持有股份，正通過自己的子公司爲收購愛思強提供貸款融通。

Just three days after the Aixtron bid was announced, a new company was registered at an address in Quanzhou along the Taiwan Strait.

愛思強接到收購要約的消息宣佈僅3天后，一家新公司在臺灣海峽沿岸城市泉州註冊成功。

San’an was an investor in the company, and the address was the same as that listed by Fujian Grand Chip in its Aixtron offer.

三安光電是該公司的一個投資方，而公司註冊地址，與福建宏芯在收購愛思強的要約文件中列名的地址相同。

The connections do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing.

這些關聯不一定意味着存在違規行爲。

Still, they raise questions about the independence of Chinese companies that have been on a global high-tech spending binge.

不過，它們會讓人懷疑，正在全球範圍內掀起高科技投資狂潮的中國企業是否具有獨立性。

It is the goal of Chinese outbound industrial policy programs to replace foreign technology leaders in the medium term — not just in China but also in global export markets, Mr Heilmann said.

中國外向型產業政策規劃的中期目標，是取代國外的科技龍頭企業——不只是在中國，而且是在全球出口市場上，韓博天稱。

He echoed the complaints of American and European officials, who say that while Chinese companies — including those backed by the state — are able to mount takeover bids for companies in the West, the opposite is not typically allowed within China.

他的說法與美國及歐洲官員的抱怨相呼應。美歐官員稱，雖然中國企業——包括那些有政府背景的企業——可以向西方企業發起收購要約，但如果換成西方企業收購中國企業，在中國則通常不被允許。

The German economics ministry declined to comment on the Aixtron takeover.

德國經濟部拒絕就愛思強收購案置評。

Fujian Grand Chip, Bohao and Mr Liu declined to comment.

福建宏芯、廈門博灝及劉振東也拒絕置評。

San’an did not respond to a request for comment, but in a statement, Aixtron said San’an canceled its order because its specific qualification requirements were not achieved.

三安光電未回覆置評請求，但愛思強在一份聲明中稱，三安光電之所以取消訂單，是因爲特定的工藝要求無法得到滿足。

In an August conference call with analysts, Aixtron’s chief executive, Martin Goetzeler, said there no was current investment link between San’an and Fujian Grand Chip, a relationship that was first reported in the German magazine Capital.

在8月份的面向分析師的電話會議上，愛思強首席執行官馬丁•格特策勒(Martin Goetzeler)說，三安光電和福建宏芯之間目前不存在投資關係——當初首先報道這種關係的是德國雜誌《資本》(Capital)。

Bids for companies like Aixtron reflect a shift in Chinese investment patterns that goes back a number of years.

向愛思強這樣的公司發出要約，反映出中國沿用多年的投資模式發生了轉變。

Chinese companies bearing checkbooks have generally been welcomed in Europe.

總體來說，手持支票簿的中國公司是受到歐洲歡迎的。

They have provided a source of fresh capital for ailing European enterprises, like the Swedish carmaker Volvo, the Italian tire maker Pirelli, the French resort operator Club Med, and the port in Piraeus, Greece.

它們爲境況不佳的歐洲企業，包括瑞典汽車製造商沃爾沃(Volvo)、意大利輪胎製造商倍耐力(Pirelli)、法國度假區運營商地中海俱樂部(Club Med)和希臘比雷埃夫斯的港口提供了新的資金來源。

But deals over the past two years — which last year hit a record 20 billion euros, or $22.4 billion, according to a survey by Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute — have begun targeting leading-edge companies with crucial technologies and iconic brand names.

但過去兩年裏的交易開始把目標對準擁有關鍵技術和標誌性品牌的前沿企業。榮鼎集團(Rhodium Group)和墨卡託中心共同進行的一項調查顯示，去年這類交易達到了創紀錄的200億歐元。

Anxieties are perhaps most acute in Germany, which has had Aixtron and the well-known robotics company Kuka — whose technology is ubiquitous in German car factories — both go to Chinese bidders this year.

最緊張的大概是德國。今年，該國的愛思強和著名機器人公司庫卡(Kuka)均被中國收購。庫卡的技術在德國的汽車工廠裏隨處可見。

Largely because of those two deals, Germany has become the largest recipient of Chinese investment in Europe thus far in 2016, according to the Mercator Institute.

據墨卡託中心稱，主要因爲這兩項交易，德國成了歐洲2016年迄今最大的中國投資接受國。

In the United States, a number of Chinese bids for chip companies have been undone by regulatory concerns.

在美國，中國公司對芯片企業發出的多項要約因監管機構的擔憂而被迫取消。

Regulators thwarted an overture by San’an for an American semiconductor company, and the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is reviewing the Aixtron bid.

監管機構叫停了三安對一家美國半導體公司提出的收購提議，美國財政部下屬的美國外國投資委員會(Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States)正在審查對愛思強提出的收購要約。

By contrast, European laws give politicians few avenues to block acquisitions, though that has not stopped them from trying.

相比之下，歐洲的法律幾乎沒給政界人士提供阻止收購的途徑，但這並未妨礙他們盡力嘗試。

President François Hollande of France has warned the Chinese hotel group Jin Jiang against trying to acquire a majority in the French hotel chain Accor.

法國總統弗朗索瓦•奧朗德(François Hollande)警告中國酒店集團錦江不要試圖收購法國酒店連鎖品牌雅高(Accor)的多數股份。

And last month, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain delayed approval of a nuclear power plant because of security concerns about Chinese companies involved.

上月，出於因涉及中國公司而產生的安全擔憂，英國首相特麗莎‧梅(Theresa May)推遲了一個核電站項目的批准。

(It has since been given the green light.)

（該項目現在已經獲批。）

In Germany, the takeover of Kuka — frequently cited by politicians as emblematic of the country’s future economic development — has drawn particular attention.

在德國，收購庫卡一事引起了特別的關注。政界人士常說此事象徵着德國未來的經濟發展。

The economics ministry examined the takeover of the company by Midea Group in China, which already owns 95 percent of Kuka shares, but eventually decided the deal did not meet the strict criteria for a formal review.

該國經濟部對中國美的集團收購庫卡一事進行了調查，但最終斷定交易未達到進行正式審覈需滿足的嚴格條件。美的現已擁有庫卡95%的股份。

Beyond politics, concerns also surround the origin of the money supporting Chinese bids.

除政治外，支持中國公司發出收購要約的資金的來源也引發了擔憂。

The Aixtron case, in particular, shows how difficult that can be.

愛思強收購案尤其體現了其中的難度。

Ultimately both San’an, the customer, and Fujian Grand Chip, the buyer, are recipients of government funds earmarked to help China build out its semiconductor capabilities.

無論是愛思強的客戶三安，還是買家福建宏芯基金，從根本上都是政府資金的接受方，政府此舉是爲了幫助中國發展其半導體實力。

While it’s not clear whether the two coordinated in any way, they are a product of a new approach Beijing has taken to develop its semiconductor industry.

儘管尚不清楚這兩家公司是否以某種方式進行了協調，北京爲發展其半導體行業而採取了一種新方法，它們都是這一方法的產物。

Previously, China’s government would dole out funds to several well-known state-owned companies.

以前，中國政府會將資金髮放給多家著名的國有企業。

Now those funds are being distributed through national and local investment funds, which give them out to, and through, smaller companies like Bohao and San’an.

現在，這些資金通過中央和地方投資基金的形式發放，投資基金再將它們發放給博灝和三安這種較小的公司，或是再經由它們進行發放。

German companies have so far managed to stay ahead of China and other competitors in quality and technology, but there are growing concerns that Chinese companies are catching up.

迄今爲止，德國公司仍能在品質和技術上領先於中國和其他競爭對手，但民衆對中國公司正在迎頭趕上的擔憂日漸加劇。

A lot of people in Germany have massive concerns about Chinese companies taking over leading tech companies, said Daniel Bauer, a spokesman for SdK, a German investor-protection group.

很多德國人對中國公司收購德國著名科技公司非常擔心，德國投資者保護組織SdK的發言人丹尼爾•鮑爾(Daniel Bauer)說。

People fear that foreign investors will just transfer the know-how and have no interest in keeping the facilities.

人們擔心外國投資者只會轉移專業技術，無意於保留設施。