双语阅读｜海航开启全球爆买模式
NOW it is a conglomerate with more than $100bn-worth of assets around the world. But HNA Group started life as a small local airline. Chen Feng, the Chinese company’s founder, led a coalition including private investors and the government of Hainan, a southern province, to launch Hainan Airlines in 1993.
海航集团(HNA)最初由一家不起眼的民营航空公司发展而来。1993年，海航创始人陈峰借助从私人投资者和海南省政府募集到的资金，成立了海南航空公司。经过了二十余年的发展，如今的海航已成为资产逾千亿美元的国际巨头。
Despite some help from the local government, the upstart firm was an outsider then. The central government chose three big state-run airlines to receive favoured landing slots, lavish subsidies and other advantages. The scrappy Mr. Chen was undeterred. With $25m in early funding from George Soros, an American billionaire, he carved out a profitable niche.
尽管海南省政府给予了不少的支持，成立之初的海南航空只能算是一个小角色。在当时中央政府的政策下，三大国有航空公司占据了大多优质航线、享受着国家补贴以及各种优惠政策。面对窘境，雄心勃勃的陈峰并不服输，他从金融巨鳄乔治•索罗斯（George Soros）得到了2500万美元的基金投资，成功扭转了亏损局面。
Since then, HNA has grown quickly, mainly through acquisitions. It reported revenues of 600bn yuan ($90bn) last year. In 2016 it acquired a 25% stake in America’s Hilton Worldwide for $6.5bn and paid $10bn for the aircraft-leasing division of CIT Group, a New York-based financial firm. This week it bid nearly $1bn for Singapore’s CWT, a logistics company.
自那之后，海航集团迅速发展壮大，发展主要的方式就是收购。去年，海航公布的营收达6000亿元人民币（约合900亿美元），在这一年内，海航花了65亿美元收购美国希尔顿酒店25%的股权，又花了100亿美元收购了纽约的金融机构CIT Group Inc.旗下的飞机租赁业务。本周，海航拟以10亿美元收购新加披物流公司CWT的全部股份。
Most deals have been in industries adjacent to its core business, such as travel, tourism and logistics. But some recent purchases have raised eyebrows for being more distant. It spent $6bn last year on Ingram Micro, an information-technology outfit based in California. Money has also gone into Deutsche Bank. It is rumoured to be bidding for Forbes, an American magazine. Some people suspect that these deals chime with China’s industrial policy more than HNA’s own corporate logic.
海航的大多并购交易都与其核心业务相关：旅游、酒店及物流等。不过，海航最近的爆买则开始着眼于更广阔的领域。去年，以60亿美元收购了加州的IT分销巨头英迈国际（Ingram Micro），斥巨资持股德意志银行。有传闻称海航还有意收购福布斯杂志。一些人认为，这类举措实际是为了响应国家的行业政策，而非出于海航自己的运营思维。
Yet HNA is not a classic state-owned enterprise. The Hainan government retains a big stake in it, but HNA has traits that distinguish it from state-owned enterprises, which tend to be sclerotic and run by bureaucratic grey men .
然而，海航并不能算是典型的国有企业。尽管海南省政府持有大量股份，海航并不像传统的国企那样僵化，也不受官僚政治的影响。海航有很多独有的优势：
It has adopted professional management practices. Mr. Chen has trained his employees in Six Sigma, a management method popularised by Jack Welch, a former boss of General Electric, to eliminate waste; and in a financial methodology that scrutinises investments for economic value added. Hainan Airlines is considered the best Chinese airline. Mr. Chen, a Buddhist scholar, has also imprinted traditional Chinese philosophies onto the company’s culture. When it takes over a firm he leads new executives in a recitation of HNA’s core values, which include “love and devotion”. HNA typically does not fire the top brass at firms it acquires, nor does it force big lay-offs.
海航引进了专业的管理经验：陈峰使用通用集团前董事长杰克•韦尔奇(Jack Welch)所推广的“六西格玛流程”来培训员工，减少浪费；又使用了经济附加值（EVA）的金融方法来审核投资。现在海南航空被认为是中国最好的航空公司。信奉佛教的陈峰还把传统的中国佛教哲学引入到了企业文化中。每当接管一个新公司，他就会带着管理层背诵海航的价值观，其中就包括“爱与奉献”。对于收购的企业，海航既不会变动高层，也不会强制裁员。
Mr. Chen certainly seems skilful at managing the Chinese authorities. HNA is presenting this week’s bid for CWT as part of President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” geopolitical strategy, for example. It is clever to play the political card given that the state is tightening control of outbound investment, which could hamper the company’s style, notes a Chinese business expert. A clampdown on foreign deals by Chinese regulators, who are worried about capital outflows, has led to the cancellation of dozens of announced acquisitions by Chinese firms.
陈峰极擅长与政府打交道。比如，海航宣称其意图收购CWT是为了响应习主席“一带一路”的地缘政治策略。一中国企业专家认为，在国家现在正加紧对对外投资的控制的情况下，现在打政治牌聪明之举，因为这一形势对于海航的扩张路线是极其不利的。监管机构出于对资金外流的担忧，否决了诸多的海外收购，也导致了很多企业的海外并购计划不得不取消。
But HNA is having no trouble getting the money and approval to do lots of big deals—it has spent over $40bn on acquisitions in the past three years. Indeed, Mr. Chen appears to have the advantages of a state firm, including cheap access to capital, without the disadvantages, such as officials telling him how to run his company, says a seasoned China hand. In this, he reckons, HNA is becoming “a lot like Hua-wei”, a telecoms-equipment firm. Mr. Chen should be flattered by the comparison to one of the country’s most successful multinationals. But he should also recall that a backlash against Huawei’s perceived closeness to China’s leadership led to its blacklisting by America’s government.
不守，目前海航并没有在融资和收购许可方面遇到什么麻烦——过去三年，海航的全球爆买共计花费了400亿美元。据一位资深人士讲，海航似乎还有一些国有企业才有的优势，比如筹集资金方面，既没有高息负担，又不用受官方的摆布，在这一点上，海航很像华为。把海航与华为作比较，绝对是对海航的夸赞，毕竟后者现在是中国最成功的跨国企业。可是，有一点不能忽略，就是华为曾因与政治高层关系好，而在美国遭到了当地政府的封杀。
编译：王朦晰
审校：郭娜&周小靖
编辑：翻吧君
来源：经济学人