【英语科技】手机支付业务将成并购热点

Asian businesses are increasingly turning to the region's emerging markets when scouting for companies to buy, rather looking elsewhere in the world, according to a recent analysis by global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Singapore and Hong Kong conducted more than 80% of their mergers and acquisition activity in fast growing markets in Asia, Freshfields says.

Yun-Hee Kim sat down with Connie Carnabuci, a partner at the firm who heads up the technology, media and telecom practice to talk about what is driving deals and the outlook for 2012. The firm advises clients such as Alibaba.com, China Telecom Corp. and Morgan Stanley.

WSJ: What is the outlook for M&A activity in the technology, media and telecom space this year?

Ms. Carnabuci: Even in a recession, there will be some winners people will look for bargains and go for fire sales. In tough times, companies may do a strategic alliance, or sell non-core assets and technology. If we look back to recent history, in the last downturn, we weren't totally decoupled we are in a global market and we are dependent on each other and there's enough boyancy here [in Asia.] It may not be the same kind of M&A activity, but I'm relatively optimistic.

WSJ: Can you elaborate on specific deals?

We will probably see some activity around more established telecom operators buying or building networks in less established locations, such as Bangladesh. Indonesia is another important market, as well as Vietnam and the Philippines. Chinese companies are looking for opportunities. In some markets, it will be a green field [where no previous facilities or network structures exist]. While in other markets, they may have useful infrastructure to share and take a stake and license technology and enjoy royalties, or they may leverage their assets as virtual operators. In Europe, it'll be more valued added IT services such as data hosting and data management. This is a massive growth area.

WSJ: Will we continue to see Chinese companies buying overseas assets?

Ms. Carnabuci: Yes, they will look for bargains and I think there will be certain industries that will be particularly attractive such as energy, low carbon, high-speed rail, electronics and information technology.

WSJ: What are some of the themes driving activity this year?

Ms. Carnabuci: The really hot area is mobile money it’s all about having the ability to access your cash and because you have a burgeoning middle class in China, it’s all about mobile commerce. The penetration of personal credit cards is still very low. If you want to access that market [China], you have to find a way to have cash payment. So the easy way to do that is the mobile money concept where for example you have an account with your telephone company. You will start to see telecom companies, technology companies and retail companies partnering up to offer mobile payment solutions to customers.

WSJ: Cloud computing is a big theme this year. Do you anticipate more deals in this area?

Ms. Carnabuci: All of the IT outsourcing providers have to develop cloud solutions to stay in the game. The solutions are still evolving and I think procurement policies are still evolving. I don’t think we’ve yet seen a strong local player coming into this space and really commercially taking the market. Cloud computing is incredibly important for this part of the world because it allows you to leap frog to state of the art technology without significant capital expenditure and to have flexible and scalable access to IT. In Asia, it’s much more of an imperative compared to the U.S. and Europe, given that local infrastructure remains fragmented and business demand volatile.

WSJ: Traditionally, Chinese Internet companies have opted to list in the U.S. Why is that and will we see more activity this year?

Ms. Carnabuci: They want to access as much capital as they can, and they will go to those markets they feel will have the deepest pool of capital. It is also quite prestigious to list in the U.S., it adds credibility. That said, listing on the Hong Kong exchange is also very attractive, and many of the deals we’ve seen actually involve a dual listing. I think there will always be an inevitable attraction between emerging technology and the capital markets, whether we’ll have another bubble, I don’t know.

英国富而德律师事务所(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)最近一项分析发现，亚洲企业寻找收购对象时开始日益转向这一地区的新兴市场，而非世界其它地区。

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer卡尔纳布奇富而德律师事务所说，新加坡和香港的并购活动有80%是在亚洲快速增长的市场进行的。

《华尔街日报》记者Yun-Hee Kim最近采访了富而德律师事务所负责科技、媒体和电信业务的合伙人卡尔纳布奇(Connie Carnabuci)，期间两人谈到了驱动交易的投资主题以及2012年的市场前景。富而德律师事务所为阿里巴巴(Alibaba.com)、中国电信(China Telecom Corp.)及摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)等客户提供顾问服务。以下为访谈实录：

《华尔街日报》：今年科技、媒体和电信业的并购业务前景如何？

卡尔纳布奇：即使在经济衰退中，依然会有一些赢家：在这种情况下，人们会搜寻一些便宜货，并出手买进跳楼大甩卖的收购对象。在市况维艰时，很多企业可能会选择战略结盟，或出售非核心资产和技术。如果我们回顾一下最近的历史，在上一次经济衰退中，我们也没有完全割断联系：我们身处全球市场，彼此之间相互依存，且亚洲市场的恢复能力也够强。这或许不是我们常见的并购活动，但我比较乐观。

《华尔街日报》：你能讲讲具体的交易吗？

卡尔纳布奇：我们可能会看到较为老牌的电信运营商在孟加拉国这类比较年轻的市场收购或建造通信网络这样的行动。印度尼西亚、越南和菲律宾是另外几个重要市场。中国企业正在寻找种种机会。一些市场可能是没有任何设备或网络设施的处女地。而在另外一些市场，他们或许得以共享有用的基础设施并入股，进行技术授权、收取专利费，或者也可能利用自己的资产充当事实上的运营商。在欧洲，可能涉及更多的是增值信息技术服务，比如数据托管和数据管理等。这是一个增长潜力巨大的领域。

《华尔街日报》：我们会继续看到中国企业收购海外资产的情况吗？

卡尔纳布奇：是的，他们会寻找便宜货。我想会有一些行业特别具有吸引力，比如能源、低碳、高速铁路、电子和信息技术等。

《华尔街日报》：今年推动并购交易的一些主题是什么？

卡尔纳布奇：最热的领域无疑是手机支付，其重点在于获得现金的能力，因为中国中产阶级迅速壮大，这一业务也就是移动商务。由于中国的个人信用卡普及率还很低，如果你想进入中国市场，必须找到支付现金的方法。想要实现这个目的，一个简单的办法就是利用手机支付。比如你只要在电信运营商那里开一个户头即可。你会看到电信公司、科技公司和零售商将共同合作向客户提供移动支付解决方案。

《华尔街日报》：云计算是今年的一大主题，你预计这一领域会有更多交易吗？

卡尔纳布奇：想要跟上潮流，所有的信息技术外包服务提供商都必须开发云计算解决方案。云计算解决方案仍在不断演进之中，我认为采购政策也会不断改变。我不认为本地区已经出现一家强大的企业能够在商业上把持云计算这一市场。对于全球这一领域来说，云计算极其重要，因为这项技术让你无需进行重大资本开支就能下一跃跟上最先进的技术，同时又能灵活接触信息技术并实现技术升级。在亚洲，和欧美市场相比，云计算更是显得势在必行，因为当地的基础设施较为分散，且业务需求波动较大。

《华尔街日报》：传统上看，中国互联网企业倾向在美国上市，这是为什么？今年我们会看到更多中国企业赴美上市吗？

卡尔纳布奇：因为这些企业想要尽可能多的募集资金，所以他们会去那些他们认为资本实力最为雄厚的市场上市。此外在美国上市会令公司显得声望很高，这能增加企业信誉。话虽如此，在香港上市也很有吸引力，我们见到的很多企业都是在美国香港两地上市的。我认为新兴技术和资本市场之间一直存在着必然的吸引力，但我不知道是否会有另一次泡沫。