【英语财经】紫光海外收购计划遭质疑 Chipmaker insists it is not Beijing’s Trojan horse

Confidence in China’s stock markets has been in short supply in recent weeks but Victor Zhao, chairman of

Tsinghua Unigroup, remains an enthusiastic believer.

“Any company that delists abroad and lists in China is going to see their share price go up by multiples,” says the head of the state-controlled semiconductor conglomerate, undeterred by the rout that recently wiped more than 30 per cent off China’s stock market in the space of three weeks. “If the market here remains down, this bounce is three times. But if things improve, it could be five times.”

If the courtly, chain-smoking Mr Zhao has his way he might just be able to test his theory on

Micron Technology, a Boise, Idaho-based memory chipmaker that he is reportedly keen to buy for as much as $23bn.

The US company denied it has received a formal bid, but Mr Zhao makes it clear he covets the company, adding that Micron “hypothetically” would be better off if it were listed in China as part of his Shenzhen-listed subsidiary Unisplendour.

“Any companies I acquire — I wouldn’t ask them to move to China, but just change their listing location,” he says. “China has a shortage of good, listed tech companies and the multiples here are huge”, he says, before adding: “My lawyers say I have to be careful what I say about Micron.”

He is coy about reports that he is planning a Micron bid, in what would be Unigroup’s first overseas deal and the largest Chinese investment in the US.

“Micron is a rumour, like there are always rumours about actors and actresses,” says Mr Zhao. “But most of those rumours are true. All I can say is that I’m not surprised to hear these rumours.”

But Mr Zhao is clear that he is on the hunt for computer chipmakers, especially abroad. Because of this very specific shopping list, he increasingly has to fend off allegations that he is working on behalf of the Chinese government, which has announced a policy of building up its domestic chip industry.

Since 2013, Unigroup has been snapping up chipmakers, including

Spreadtrum

and

RDA Microelectronics, the number one and number two chipmakers in China. It also announced the acquisition of a 51 per cent holding in H3C from

Hewlett-Packard

for $2.3bn in May.

But analysts note wide gaps between Unigroup’s deals and its resources. Some believe this gap suggests it has had help from the state, which launched a broad push in June 2014 to build a domestic computer chip industry.

Unigroup says its revenues in 2014 were Rmb15bn ($2.4bn). It said this week that it planned to invest at least Rmb30bn in developing mobile chip technology.

The company “may have trouble coming up with that kind of money without support from the government”, says Mark Li, a semiconductor analyst for Sanford Bernstein in Hong Kong, referring to the $23bn price tag talked about for Micron. “I think they are representing the will of the government to develop a domestic semiconductor industry.”

Bernstein said in a recent report that while a takeover of Micron by Tsinghua Unigroup was unlikely, the real reason for the overture might be to access the US company’s D-Ram memory chip technology. Bernstein calls that “the critical missing piece to China’s D-Ram ambitions”, which in turn is a key technology needed by the country’s domestic semiconductor industry.

But Mr Zhao insists he is independent and that his capital comes from private sources. He estimates he has access to “about $60bn” but declines to say who those backers are. Unigroup is 51 per cent owned by Tsinghua University and would appear to benefit from government largesse.

Last September it helped create the government’s National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund to promote the development of a local semiconductor industry. In February, the fund agreed to a Rmb10bn equity investment in Unigroup over five years.

The same month, China Development Bank, the state-owned lender, said it would co-finance Rmb20bn in new projects with Unigroup.

Mr Zhao says he contributed to the IC fund because “I couldn’t refuse them — I didn’t want to offend them.”

But he insists: “I haven’t gotten a dime from the government, not a cent, and the Rmb10bn they claim — it has been lying idle after they signed the letter of intent.”

Instead, he points out that US chipmaker

Intel

last year took a 20 per cent stake in one of Unigroup’s businesses, “and those funds have arrived”.

Mr Zhao’s links to the government could become a serious liability were a purchase of a company such as Micron to come before US regulators for approval. “I’m not even in the Communist party,” says Mr Zhao, who says he grew up “a shepherd” in the western province of Xinjiang after his father was exiled there under Mao’s anti-rightist campaign in 1957.

He says he studied hard and enrolled in Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University in 1985. In 1996, he says, he launched a company with $5bn in venture funds.

In 2009, after making a fortune in the property market, he was offered a chance to buy a 49 per cent stake in Unigroup, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.

As Mr Zhao tells it, his investments in chip companies predated the government’s strategy by several months. “They were inspired by me, not the reverse,” he says. “The only state support I have gotten is a pat on the head and a ‘good job, old boy’.”

Additional reporting by Ma Fangjing

最近中国股市处于信心短缺中，但紫光集团(Tsinghua Unigroup)董事长赵伟国(Victor Zhao)仍是A股市场的热心拥趸。

这家国有控股半导体企业的掌门人表示：“很多科技类公司，在美国的PE只有十几倍，退市后在中国上市，他们的股价都会成倍增长。”最近中国股市经历了暴跌，但赵伟国并未气馁：“如果市场状况不好，这些公司股价可能只上涨三倍。但是如果市场恢复活力，会上涨五倍。”

如果这位温文尔雅、烟不离手的董事长能够得偿所愿，他或许能够在美光科技(Micron Technology)身上验证自己的理论。该内存芯片制造商位于爱达荷州博伊西，据传，赵伟国愿意以230亿美元的价格收购这家公司。

美光科技否认已收到正式收购要约，但赵伟国清楚表达了对这家美国公司的渴望。他还说，如果美光科技能作为紫光股份(Unisplendour)的一部分在A股市场上市，“假设来说”，那会更好。紫光股份是紫光集团旗下公司，在深圳上市。

对于国外并购，赵伟国说：“我们不要求他们把公司搬到中国来。我只是把上市地点搬到中国，这样他们的股票价值可以更高，因为中国比国外给予更高的估值。”随后他又说：“我的律师让我就美光不要讲太多。”

对于有关他正计划收购美光科技的报道，赵伟国没有做出明确表示。这将是紫光集团在海外的首次收购交易，如果成功将是中国在美国最大规模的投资。

赵伟国说：“美光科技有限公司和紫光之间的事情，你可以认为是一种绯闻。”

“就像演艺圈的男女演员之间经常有绯闻一样。但是多数的绯闻是真的。”

“我能说的是，我听到这些传闻并不意外。”

但赵伟国明确表示，他正在物色计算机芯片制造商，尤其是海外公司。由于收购目标异常明确，他将日益面对这种指摘：他的行为代表中国政府。北京方面已宣布了本土芯片产业发展政策。

自2013年以来，紫光集团一直在收购芯片制造商，对象包括分列中国头号和二号芯片制造商的展讯(Spreadtrum)以及锐迪科微电子(RDA Microelectronics)。该集团在5月份还宣布以23亿美元从惠普(HP)手上收购了新华三(H3C)的51%股份。

但分析师指出，紫光集团的收购交易规模与其财力之间存在巨大差距。一些分析师认为这一差距表明紫光集团得到了政府的支持。中国政府在2014年6月宣布了发展本土电脑芯片产业的计划。

紫光集团表示2014年的营收为150亿元人民币（约合24亿美元）。该集团近期表示计划至少投资300亿元人民币开发移动芯片技术。

针对紫光集团愿意以230亿美元收购美光科技的传闻，伯恩斯坦(Sanford Bernstein)香港半导体分析师Mark Li说：“如果没有政府支持，紫光集团可能很难筹集到这么多资金。我认为这一报价代表了中国政府发展国内半导体产业的意志。”

伯恩斯坦在近期一份报告中表示，虽然紫光集团成功收购美光科技的可能性不大，但这一提议背后的真正目的可能是想获得美光科技的D-Ram内存芯片技术。伯恩斯坦称这是“中国D-Ram雄心中所缺少的关键环节”，因而也是中国国内半导体产业所需要的关键技术。

但赵伟国坚称自己是独立的，而且他的资金来自私营部门。他说已经筹措了“600亿美元的资金”，“主要来自想要向我投资的私募股权和保险公司。”

紫光集团的51%股权为清华大学(Tsinghua University)所有，看上去似乎会受益于政府的慷慨资金支持。

去年9月，紫光集团帮助创立了“国家集成电路产业投资基金”，以促进本土半导体产业的发展。今年2月，该基金同意未来5年对紫光集团进行100亿元人民币的股权投资。

同月，中国国家开发银行(Development Bank)表示将与紫光集团为新项目合作融资200亿元人民币。

说到“国家集成电路产业投资基金”，赵伟国表示：“他们也让我出了一个亿。我不好拒绝他们，拒绝他们就把他们得罪了。”

但他坚称：“至今从政府手里没有拿到过一分钱，签了意向书之后，那一百个亿还放在那里一动没动。”

“不过英特尔(Intel)的钱已经到账了。”美国芯片制造商英特尔去年收购了紫光集团旗下一家公司的20%股份。

如果收购美光科技这样的公司，在寻求美国监管机构的批准时，赵伟国与政府之间的关系很可能会成为一大负累。对此赵伟国说：“我甚至不是共产党员。”他说由于毛泽东的反右运动，他父亲于1957年被流放到中国西部省份新疆，他在那里长大。“我从小喂猪、牧羊，还吃不饱。”

赵伟国说自己经过刻苦学习，于1985年被位于北京的名校清华大学录取。1996年，他用50亿美元风险投资创办了一家公司。“2003-2008年是中国经济高速增长的几年。在房地产行业，那几年看起来不像我们在赚钱，更像我们在印钱。”

2009年，在楼市大赚了一笔后，他得到机会收购了紫光集团49%的股份，当时该集团濒临破产。

赵伟国说，他投资芯片公司比政府出台芯片产业发展战略还早了好几个月。他说：“我目前获得的唯一的国家支持，就像一个大人在一个孩子的肩膀上上轻轻一拍，表示鼓励，‘干得好，孩子。’”

马芳婧补充报道

译者/何黎