【英语财经】复星退出竞购伦敦私人银行 Fosun drops bid for BHF Kleinwort Benson

Fosun International, the Chinese conglomerate whose chairman was detained this month in connection with an unspecified investigation, announced it would withdraw its bid for BHF Kleinwort Benson, the London merchant bank.

Fosun, one of China’s most aggressively acquisitive private companies, said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday night that it was withdrawing its ￠5.10 per share takeover offer for the bank, made in July. Oddo & Cie, the French private bank, intervened late in November with an offer of ￠5.75 per share.

The four-day disappearance earlier this month of Guo Guangchang, Fosun chairman, has shaken overseas confidence in the company’s ability to provide access to the Chinese market. It is not clear whether Fosun will hold on to its 30 per cent stake in Kleinwort Benson or sell to Oddo. Fosun declined to comment.

Mr Guo went incommunicado on December 10 and the company later said he was assisting with a judicial investigation. The most prominent private businessmen so far caught up in China’s anti-corruption and anti-graft drive, Mr Guo is now on an overseas trip that has so far taken him to New York. He is expected to attend a performance of Cirque du Soleil, the entertainment company in which Fosun owns a 25 per cent stake, in Montreal on Monday.

Fosun is also poised to complete a ￠210m purchase of Frankfurt-based Hauck & Aufh?user, a private bank established in the 18th century, pending approval from Germany’s financial regulator and the European Central Bank.

BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, is not expected to make a final recommendation to the ECB on whether Fosun should be deemed a “fit and proper” owner of Hauck before Christmas, say people close to the transaction. Fosun International announced what would be the first outright Chinese purchase of a German bank in July.

Mr Guo, sometimes called China’s Warren Buffett, has spent nearly $4bn on insurance companies in Bermuda, Portugal and the US to generate investment capital for other purchases. Fosun also owns the French holiday company, Club Med, and a stake in Thomas Cook, the UK holiday business.

Fosun has moved to reassure investors since Mr Guo’s disappearance. The company told foreign partners privately last week that Mr Guo’s participation in the investigation had ended and that he had not been a target. No government official has commented on why he was detained but his ability to travel overseas was seen as a sign that he is at least free to move around again.

Additional reporting by Jackie Cai

中国企业集团复星国际(Fosun International)宣布将取消收购伦敦私人银行BHF Kleinwort Benson的计划。复星董事长郭广昌本月曾因牵涉到一起内容不详的调查而被拘留。

复星在周日晚间向香港证交所提交的一份声明中表示，将撤回今年7月发出的以每股5.10欧元收购BHF Kleinwort Benson的要约。11月，法国私人银行Oddo & Cie加入竞购，报价每股5.75欧元。复星是收购意愿最为强烈的中国民营企业之一。

本月早些时候，复星董事长郭广昌曾失联4天，这动摇了海外人士对该公司提供进入中国市场渠道的能力的信心。目前还不清楚，复星是将继续持有其在BHF Kleinwort Benson的30%股权，还是会出售给Oddo。复星拒绝置评。

12月10日，郭广昌失联。复星随后表示，他正协助一桩司法调查。郭广昌是迄今卷入中国反腐运动的最知名民营企业家，他现在正远赴纽约出差。预计他将于周一在蒙特利尔观看娱乐公司太阳马戏团(Cirque du Soleil)的一场演出，复星持有该公司25%股权。

复星也尚未完成对Hauck & Aufh?user作价2.1亿欧元的收购，这笔交易正等待德国金融监管部门和欧洲央行(ECB)的批准。Hauck & Aufh?user是一家总部位于法兰克福的私人银行，创建于18世纪。

据知情人士称，预计德国联邦金融监理署(BaFin)不会在圣诞节前就复星是否应被视为Hauck & Aufh?user的一个“适当”所有者对欧洲央行给出最终建议。今年7月，复星宣布了这笔交易，如果成功，这将是中国企业首次全盘收购一家德国银行。

郭广昌有“中国巴菲特”之称，他已斥资近40亿美元收购百慕大、葡萄牙和美国的保险公司，以积累投资资本，用于其他收购活动。他还收购了法国度假旅游公司地中海俱乐部(Club Med)，并持有英国旅游公司Thomas Cook部分股权。

郭广昌失联以后，复星采取了行动安抚投资者。该公司上周私下告诉外国合作伙伴，郭广昌已经结束了协助调查，他不是调查对象。没有政府官员对他被拘的原因作出评论，但人们认为，郭广昌可以出国表明，至少他可以再次自由活动。

蔡洁晶(Jackie Cai)补充报道

译者/何黎