076经济学家读译参考之七十六而今迈步从头越花旗改造广发并非易事

TEXT 76

Start of the l ong march

而今迈步从头越（陈继龙编译）

Nov 16th 2006 | BEIJING AND HONG KONG

From The Economist print edition

Charles Prince gambles on a rickety Chinese bank

查尔斯·普林斯把赌注押在了一家沉疴在身的中国银行之上。

IF, AS seems likely, consumer banking in China takes a great leap forward, Guangdong Development Bank has obvious appeal. It has 13m customers, 500 branches, a strong franchise in the manufacturing hub near Hong Kong and a national licence that could permit years of formidable growth. （1）So Citigroup's chief executive, Charles Prince, must have been thrilled to fly into Hong Kong this week on unrelated business to find that a bidding consortium led by his bank was about to win control of Guangdong after a bruising[1] auction that lasted more than a year. It beat Société Générale, a French bank.

假如个人金融业务在中国能够实现跨越式增长的话，那么广东发展银行还是有其显而易见的魅力的。这看来不无可能。它拥有1300万客户和500家分支机构，在香港周边的制造业中心地区有广布的营业网点，还持有全国性业务牌照，数年之内业务的增长将无可限量。因此，本周花旗银行的首席执行官查尔斯•普林斯飞赴香港，获悉以他的银行为首的一个竞标财团即将赢得广发银行的控股权，顿时欣喜若狂，而这却并非他此行的主要目的。这场激烈的竞购战持续了一年多，该财团的手下败将是法国兴业银行。

The deal marks the first time foreigners have been allowed into the driving seat of a big, potentially national, Chinese bank. But the main reason the authorities gave Mr Prince and his partners such access is because Guangdong is a wreck. Its most recent audited statement in 2003 showed that non-performing loans represented an alarming 22% of its portfolio. A report in the government-backed China Daily agency put non-performing loans[2] at 25% in 2005. That suggests its performance may be getting worse even as China booms.

这一交易标志着外国人首次获准入主有可能成为全国性的中国大型银行。但是，当局之所以对普林斯及其合作者开这个口子，主要是因为广发银行已然是一个烂摊子。2003年一项距今最近的审计决算报告显示，不良贷款在该银行投资组合中所占比例已达22％，令人震惊。2005年，政府刊物中国日报社报道认为该银行的不良贷款率达25％，这表明虽然中国日益繁荣兴旺，但广发银行的表现却是每况愈下。

To win Guangdong, Citigroup initially bid for outright control at the request of the local authorities. （2）The offer was withdrawn under national government pressure because of limits on the stake of any foreign investor in a Chinese bank to 20%, and of total foreign investment to 25%. An awkward consortium was assembled which includes IBM, China Life (the country's biggest insurance company), State Grid (an electrical utility), and Citic Trust (a government-backed holding company). Citigroup's lead role is implicit but not explicit, which may do it no favours when it attempts to bash Guangdong into shape.

在当地政府的授意下，花旗银行最初打算竞购的是广发银行的绝对控股权。但迫于国家政府强制性规定，即任何单个外国投资商在中国银行的持股比例不得超过20％，且各外国投资商在中国一个银行的持股比例合计不得超过25％，花旗最终撤回了这一竞标。IBM、中国人寿（该国最大的保险公司）、国家电网（一家公用电力公司）和中信信托（一家政府控股公司）遂联合组建了一个竞标团，内中的关系十分复杂棘手。花旗银行的领头作用固然毋庸置疑，却又“犹抱琵琶半遮面”。它如欲试图让广发银行“成器”的话，这么做对它毫无裨益。

The group is expected to pay $ billion for 85% of Guangdong. Typically banks are valued as a multiple of book