【英语财经】安邦收购葡萄牙第三大银行前景存疑 Doubts over Anbang’s bid for Novo Banco

A multi-billion-euro bid by Anbang Insurance

for Portugal’s Novo Banco, which would be the first Chinese acquisition of a systemically important European bank, could be derailed as the offer deadline approaches.

The Bank of Portugal has set a cut-off date of August 31 for exclusive talks on the deal with a single bidder, which is understood to be Anbang. Of three shortlisted bidders for Novo Banco, the good bank created out of the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo, Anbang is understood to have made the highest offer, at about ￠3.5bn, including a commitment to recapitalise Portugal’s third-largest lender by assets.

But several Lisbon and London-based bankers familiar with the transaction expressed scepticism over whether a deal with Anbang would be completed because of doubts over the financial conditions of sale and the implications of Chinese ownership.

They said there were signs that European Central Bank officials had privately expressed reservations over a Chinese group’s acquiring a systemically important eurozone lender and that the Bank of Portugal was getting cold feet.

Doubts over the deal have grown following the Bank of Portugal’s insistence that the binding offers of the two other contenders — China’s Fosun International

and Apollo Global Management, a US private equity group — remain “wholly valid”, despite its exclusive talks with one bidder.

Anbang is believed to have set an undisclosed limit on injecting new capital into Novo Banco, the bankers said, insisting any additional amount determined by upcoming European stress tests would have to be met by Lisbon.

The Chinese group is understood to have required protection from legal and credit risks to Novo Banco. Goldman Sachs International and New Zealand’s state retirement fund are among litigants pursuing cases against the Bank of Portugal over the collapse of BES.

Created a year ago from the healthy assets of BES, Novo Banco was revived with an injection of ￠4.9bn in fresh capital from Portugal’s bank resolution fund, of which ￠4.4bn came from a state loan.

Any shortfall from the ￠4.9bn in the amount paid for Novo Banco will have to be made up by Portugal’s other banks, making the sale a sensitive political issue in the run-up to a general election in October.

If a sale to Anbang falls through, bankers expect the Bank of Portugal to resume talks with Apollo, understood to be the only bidder to have recently improved the terms of its offer. Fosun is widely seen as out of the running.

随着报价截止日的临近，安邦保险集团(Anbang Insurance Group)出价数十亿欧元收购葡萄牙银行Novo Banco的交易可能告吹——如果交易成功，这将是中国企业首次收购欧洲的系统重要性银行。

葡萄牙央行(Bank of Portugal)将8月31日定为与单一出价者举行排他性谈判的截止日期——据悉这个单一出价者是安邦。在竞购Novo Banco的3家入围企业中，据悉安邦出价最高，为约35亿欧元，包括承诺对该行进行资本重组。Novo Banco是在破产的必利胜银行(Banco Espírito Santo)的基础上成立的“好银行”，按资产计算是葡萄牙第三大银行。

但数名里斯本和伦敦的知情银行家对能否完成与安邦的交易表示怀疑，因为这笔交易的财务条款和中资入股的影响引起了人们的疑虑。

他们表示，有迹象显示，欧洲央行(ECB)官员私下里对中国集团收购一家具有系统重要性的欧元区银行持保留意见，而葡萄牙央行也在打退堂鼓。

葡萄牙央行坚称，尽管它在与一家竞购者举行排他性谈判，但其他两家竞购者——中国的复星国际(Fosun International)和美国私人股本集团阿波罗全球管理公司(Apollo Global Management)——具有约束力的报价依然“完全有效”。这让人们进一步怀疑安邦能否完成交易。

这些银行家表示，据信安邦对向Novo Banco注入新资本设置了数目不详的上限，坚持认为即将进行的欧洲压力测试要求该行进行的任何额外增资，都必须由里斯本方面提供。

据悉安邦已要求得到针对Novo Banco的法律和信用风险保障。高盛国际(Goldman Sachs International)和新西兰政府退休基金以及其他一些机构，围绕必利胜银行的破产对葡萄牙央行提起了诉讼。

由于葡萄牙银行处置基金注入了49亿欧元新资本（其中44亿欧元来自政府贷款），一年前脱胎于必利胜银行健康资产的Novo Banco焕发了生机。

如果Novo Banco的售价小于49亿欧元，售价与这笔银行处置基金的任何差额都将由葡萄牙其他银行承担，这让此次出售在今年10月葡萄牙大选前夕成为政治敏感话题。

如果安邦收购失败，银行家们预计葡萄牙央行将会重启与阿波罗的谈判——据悉最近只有阿波罗提出了更好的收购条件。外界普遍认为复星已经退出竞购。

译者/邹策