【英语财经】上海家化收购婴儿奶瓶品牌汤美天地 China’s Ping An buys Tommee Tippee baby brand from 3i

Ping An, one of China’s largest insurers, has backed a deal to buy the maker of Tommee Tippee baby products from British private equity group 3i in a further sign of Chinese corporate appetite for overseas consumer brands.

Jahwa Group, an investment vehicle that is wholly owned by Ping An, will buy Mayborn Group, Tommee Tippee’s parent, in a sale that will return ￡135m to 3i, the firm said on Thursday.

The deal means that 3i has made three and a half times the amount it paid for its original buyout of Mayborn in 2006, including ￡32m from a debt refinancing in 2012.

Under 3i’s ownership Mayborn doubled profits and expanded into the US, where it is the fastest growing baby bottle brand. It had sales of nearly $40m last year.

“Since the take private of Mayborn, the transformation of the company from being largely UK focused into a market leading global business has been significant,” said Alan Giddins, a 3i partner.

In a wave of overseas M&A by Chinese companies this year — including an abortive $14bn bid for Starwood Hotels by Anbang, Ping An’s rival — deals have often focused on acquiring quality consumer brands to bring back to China.

While the spending clout of China’s middle class is increasing, consumers have been rocked by a series of health and safety scandals over food and other products.

This month McGraw Hill Financial sold JD Power, a car and consumer goods tester, to XIO Group, a private equity firm with Asian backers, for $1.1bn, with plans to expand in China.

Ping An has ties to the family of the former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, some of whom have been shareholders.

The company, China’s second-largest insurer, has less than 2 per cent of its assets abroad, far below the 15 per cent cap established by the government for insurance groups in 2012.

英国私人股本集团3i将旗下的汤美天地(Tommee Tippee)婴儿产品的制造商脱手出售，收购方背后的金主是中国最大的保险公司之一中国平安(Ping An)。这是中国企业对海外消费品牌兴趣浓厚的又一迹象。

3i周四表示，平安全资所有的投资工具上海家化(Jahwa Group)将收购汤美天地的母公司Mayborn Group，这笔交易将为3i带来1.35亿英镑的回报。

这笔交易意味着，如果把3i从2012年一次债务再融资中获得的3200万英镑计算在内，3i的总所得相当于其在2006年收购Mayborn的价格的3.5倍。

在3i旗下，Mayborn的利润翻了一倍、并进军美国，成为美国市场增长最快的婴儿奶瓶品牌。去年，Mayborn实现了近4000万美元的销售额。

“Mayborn私有化以后，这家公司发生了巨大转变，从一家主要关注英国市场的公司，变成一家在市场上领先的全球性公司，”3i合伙人艾伦?吉丁斯(Alan Giddins)表示。

中国企业今年进行了一连串海外并购，这些交易通常侧重于收购优质消费品牌以引入中国——其中包括平安的竞争对手安邦(Anbang)以140亿美元竞购喜达屋(Starwood Hotels)，但这项计划最终落空。

中国中产阶级的消费影响力日渐增强，但一系列食品和其他产品的卫生和安全丑闻让消费者深感忧虑。

本月，麦格劳-希尔金融集团(McGraw Hill Financial)以11亿美元的价格将汽车和消费品测试公司JD Power出售给背后金主为亚洲人、计划进军中国的私人股本公司XIO Group。

平安与中国前总理温家宝的家人有关联，温家的一些成员是平安的股东。

作为中国第二大保险公司，平安的海外资产比例不到2%，远低于中国政府在2012年对保险公司设定的15%的上限。

译者/何黎