HONG KONG – Cofco, a sprawling, state-owned Chinese conglomerate began a reverse takeover bid on Tuesday worth 14.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.8 billion) that would result in a Hong Kong listing for its commercial property business in mainland China.
香港——周二，不斷擴張的中國國有企業中糧集團(Cofco)開始了一項價值高達142億港元（約合112億元人民幣）的反向收購行動，此舉將會使中糧的內地商業地產業務獲得在香港上市的機會。
The conglomerate, whose varied operations include slaughtering livestock, managing hotels and selling life insurance, said it would place 12 property projects in cities across China – including hotels, offices, apartments and shopping malls – into one of its subsidiaries, the Hong Kong Parkview Group.
\r中糧集團擁有多種業務，比如家畜屠宰、酒店管理以及人壽保險銷售。中糧表示，該集團將會把位於中國各大城市的12個房地產項目交給其子公司僑福建設企業機構(Hong Kong Parkview Group)，這些項目包括酒店、辦公樓、公寓及購物中心。
In exchange, Parkview, currently a tiny holding company for a single office investment in Hong Kong, would issue new shares — as many as 19 times the number of shares it currently has outstanding.
\r作為交換，僑福將發行新股，新股數量可達該公司已發行股票數量的19倍。僑福目前是香港的一家小型控股公司，只投資了一個寫字樓項目。
Reverse takeovers involve putting privately held assets in a target company that is already listed, usually in exchange for new shares that give the seller a controlling stake in the listed company. They are a popular option among Chinese property developers, who often struggle to secure bank financing and whose boom-and-bust earnings cycles can make an outright initial public offering more difficult. In Hong Kong, reverse takeovers are evaluated by the stock exchange as if they are initial public offerings.
\r反向收購行動涉及將未上市資產投入一個已經上市的目標公司，通常以此換取新股，使賣方由此獲得該上市公司的控股權。這是廣受中國地產開發商歡迎的選擇，他們通常會努力獲得銀行貸款，但興衰不定的盈利周期會使立即進行首次公開募股變得比較困難。在香港，證券交易所會對反向收購進行評估，將這種行為視同首次公開募股。
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The complex deal announced on Tuesday calls for Parkview to be renamed Cofco Land. Cofco would end up holding 75 percent of Cofco Land after the reverse takeover, while public shareholders who did not buy into the new share sale would find their current 30 percent stake in Parkview reduced to 2 percent of Cofco Land.
\r根據周二宣布的複雜交易，僑福將改名為中糧置地控股有限公司。反向收購結束後，中糧集團最終將持有中糧置地75%的股份，沒有買入新股的公眾股東將會發現，在交易完成後，他們持有的僑福股份比例將從目前的30%降至2%。
The latest move by Cofco is the second part of a two-step transaction. In July 2012, the Chinese company paid 362 million dollars to acquire control of the listed company from a local family, but at the time Cofco did not change the company’s course of business.
\r中糧集團的前述最新舉措是分兩步進行的交易的第二步。2012年7月，這家中國公司花費3.62億美元（約合22.16億元人民幣）從當地的一個家族手中收購了該上市公司，但當時中糧沒有對該公司的業務做出改變。
The new shares to be issued by Parkview would be priced at 2 dollars apiece, a 50 percent discount on the 4 dollars at which the stock traded before the announcement.
\r僑福發行的新股的股價會是每股2美元，比信息公布前的該公司股價——4美元——低一半。
In explaining the pricing, the directors of Parkview, in which Cofco currently has a 69 percent indirect stake, took the unusual position that their company’s stock had been overvalued in recent trading.
\r在解釋定價問題時，僑福的高管們採取了不同尋常的立場，稱在最近的交易中，該公司的股票定價過高。中糧目前間接持有僑福69%的股份。
The recent trading levels “cannot be taken as the true value of the shares because there appeared to be a lack of correlation between the current trading price of the shares and the underlying business operations or financial performance of the company,” the directors said in the Tuesday statement.
\r高管們在周二的聲明中說，近期的股價「不能被看做這些股份的真實價值，因為這些股份目前的交易價格似乎與公司的業務或財務狀況沒有什麼相關性」。
Shares in Parkview had soared in two trading sessions before being suspended on Sept. 17.
\r在9月17日暫停交易之前，僑福的股票價格曾在兩個交易期連續上漲。
“The recent increase in the share price may have been underpinned by the expectation of potential asset injection by Cofco Group,” the directors said in the company’s statement.
\r「股價近期上浮，可能是因為人們認為中糧集團會進行資產注入，」高管們在公司的聲明中稱。
HSBC is the financial adviser and sole sponsor of the reverse takeover.
\r滙豐銀行(HSBC)是此次反向收購的金融顧問和獨家擔保人。
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