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US hedge fund Elliott Management has launched legal proceedings that it hopes will prise Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia
美国对冲基金埃利奥特管理公司(Elliott Management)提起诉讼，希望将香港东亚银行(Bank of East Asia)从其控股家族剥离，从而允许香港最后一个家族经营银行被业内同行收购。
away from its controlling family and allow for a trade sale of the city’s last family-run lender.
埃利奥特提交的诉状首次请求法庭命令东亚银行解除针对西班牙Criteria Caixa和日本三井住友银行(Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation)的合同限制。埃利奥特认为，这些限制对东亚银行有利。
The petition filed by Elliott has for the first time sought for a court to order BEA to release Spain’s Criteria Caixa
东亚银行2007年开始对Caixa银行发行股票，从那时起，这家西班牙银行和三井住友银行总共收购了东亚银行36%的股份——东亚银行称与这两家银行是战略合作关系，但是一些投资者称，这是不必要的股权稀释，目的是保护家族所有权。
and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui
Caixa银行的母公司Criteria Caixa以及三井住友银行，仍然受制于同东亚银行达成的协议，使它们不能减持或增持在这家香港银行所持股份。解除这些条款可能使东亚银行被收购。
Banking Corporation from any contractual arrangements it finds to be in favour of the BEA.
去年，一家法院允许埃利奥特审阅东亚银行内部文件。这家由亿万富翁保罗•辛格(Paul Singer)执掌的对冲基金认为，这些文件表明东亚银行“涉嫌存在严重的企业治理缺陷”，其管理层想利用配股来保留对银行的控制权。
BEA began issuing shares to Caixabank in 2007 and since then the Spanish bank and SMBC have bought a combined 36 per cent stake in the bank — what BEA has termed strategic partnerships, but some investors have said was an unnecessary share dilution aimed at protecting family ownership.
该银行的控制者李氏家族持有不到7%的股权。埃利奥特管理公司也持有大约7%的股权。
Criteria Caixa, Caixabank’s parent company, and SMBC are still locked in agreements with BEA that restrict them from reducing or increasing their stakes in the Hong Kong bank. Scrapping those clauses could allow for a takeover of the bank.
作为香港最大的独立银行，东亚银行经常反驳这些说法。东亚银行表示，埃利奥特管理公司是为了自己而不是少数股股东的利益，一味专注于把东亚银行卖掉。
The legal proceedings come after a court last year allowed Elliott to review internal BEA documents. The hedge fund, run by billionaire Paul Singer, argues those documents reveal “alleged serious corporate governance failings” and that BEA management intended to use the share placements to retain control of the bank.
“我们将全力抵制埃利奥特管理公司对我行和我行董事的攻击，”东亚银行董事长、行政总裁李国宝(David Li)说。“他们的行动是自私自利且精心策划的，为的是分散仍致力于股东利益最大化的管理层和董事会的注意力。”
The Li family, which controls the bank, holds less than 7 per cent of the stock. Elliott also holds a stake of about 7 per cent.
东亚银行还表示：“尽管去年我行应埃利奥特管理公司的要求向他们公布了所有相关机密文件，但他们至今拿不出我行对三井住友银行配股的目的不正当的任何证据。”
