【英语财经】长江基建拟122亿美元买断电能实业股份 Li Ka-shing offers $12bn for Power Assets

Li Ka-shing’s infrastructure business has offered to buy out minority shareholders in a utilities subsidiary through a $12.2bn deal that further simplifies the Asian billionaire’s empire and frees up cash for fresh expansion.

The offer topped a flurry of big deals in Asia-Pacific yesterday and pushed the region’s dealmaking total past $700bn for only the second time on record, according to Dealogic. More than $100bn of the region’s overall volume this year is attributable to Mr Li.

Earlier yesterday, regional merger volumes were boosted by the $5.3bn offer by Japan’s MS & AD Insurance

for UK-listed Amlin, and Australia’s Woodside Petroleum’s $11.2bn approach for smaller rival Oil Search.

Yesterday’s offer by Cheung Kong Infrastructure

for Power Assets, which focuses on electricity, would simplify ownership of the empire’s overall infrastructure holdings. It will also release the net HK$58bn ($7.5bn) of cash held by Power Assets to shareholders and its parent, which has a broader mandate

to invest in infrastructure projects.

“Infrastructure is about scale to do deals — and this structure will do that better,” said one person involved in the process.

In January Mr Li reorganised his flagship groups by splitting their operations more cleanly between a property development group and a diversified conglomerate, CK Hutchison, which holds 76 per cent of CKI — which itself holds

39 per cent of Power Assets.

Tangled family empires are common in Asia and Mr Li’s businesses in recent years have tended to increasingly wander into each other’s territory, making it hard for investors to be clear about which did what. CKI and Power Assets jointly own stakes in 11 separate projects that between them represent more than half the total assets of each.

Victor Li, son of Mr Li and chairman of CKI since its inception in 1996, described the two as “like two brothers we brought up. It will create synergy for the two companies to merge.”

“They aren’t wearing any make up. It’s fair for both CKI and [Power Assets] current shareholders,” he added.

The deal is subject to approval by independent shareholders. CKI is offering 1.04 shares for every Power Assets share. It will also pay out a special interim dividend of HK$5 a share if the deal is approved — equating to about a third of Power Asset’s cash pile.

After the deal, CKH will own 49.2 per cent of the new company. That means CKI’s results will no longer be consolidated with those of its parent.

HSBC advised CKI, Anglo Chinese Corporate Finance acted as independent adviser to the CKI board.

Additional reporting by Gloria Cheung

李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)旗下的基础设施企业提出买断一家公用事业子公司的少数股东的股份，交易价值将达到122亿美元，它将进一步简化这位亚洲亿万富翁的商业帝国，并释放现金投入新的扩张。

这一要约是昨日亚太地区宣布的一连串大额交易中规模最大的。根据Dealogic的数据，它将使该地区的并购交易总额超过7000亿美元，这将只是史上第二次。今年以来的亚太地区交易总额中，超过1000亿美元出自李嘉诚之手。

昨日早些时候，日本MS&AD保险公司向在英国上市的同行Amlin发出53亿美元收购要约，而澳大利亚伍德赛德石油公司(Woodside Petroleum)向规模较小的竞争对手Oil Search发出112亿美元收购要约，这两笔交易提振了亚太地区并购交易总额。

昨日长江基建(Cheung Kong Infrastructure)向专注于电力业务的电能实业(Power Assets)发出的报价，将有助于理顺李氏商业帝国整体基础设施资产的所有权结构。这笔交易也将向股东和母公司两方面释放电能实业持有的580亿港元（合75亿美元）净现金。

“基础设施的意义就在于规模大，便于做交易——就此而言这种结构更加有利，”参与这个过程的一位人士表示。

今年1月，李嘉诚改组了他的旗舰集团，把它们的业务更加清晰地分开：一边是一家房地产开发集团，另一边是一家多元化企业集团，即长江和记实业(CK Hutchison Holdings)，其持有长江基建76%股份，而后者持有电能实业39%股份。

错综复杂的家族商业帝国在亚洲相当常见，李嘉诚旗下的企业近年往往插足彼此间的地盘，使得投资者搞不清哪家公司在经营什么业务。长江基建和电能实业在11个独立项目共同拥有股份，加起来代表它们各自总资产的一半以上。

李嘉诚之子、长江基建自1996年成立以来的主席李泽钜(Victor Li)形容两家企业“就像我们带大的两兄弟，若合并将产生协同效应。”

“这笔交易按‘素颜计法’进行。对长江基建和（电能实业）现有股东都是公平的，”他补充说。

这笔交易须经独立股东批准。每1股电能实业股票可换1.04股长江基建股票，若交易获得批准，长江基建还将向股东派发每股5港元的特别中期股息——相当于电能实业现金储备的大约三分之一。

交易完成后，长江和记实业将拥有新公司的49.2%股份。这意味着长江基建的业绩将不再与母公司合并。

汇丰(HSBC)向长江基建提供咨询，英高财务顾问(Anglo Chinese Corporate Finance)担任长江基建董事会的独立顾问。

Gloria Cheung补充报道

译者/和风