The businessman who orchestrated ChemChina’s $44bn acquisition of Swiss agrochemical giant Syngenta has left the state-owned chemicals group to join a government-controlled investment fund in Beijing.
当初策划中国化工(ChemChina)以440亿美元收购瑞士农用化学品巨头先正达(Syngenta)的那位商人,现已从这家国有化工集团离职,加入了北京一支国有投资基金。
Robert Lu, a vice-president at ChemChina who presided over the largest overseas spending spree by a Chinese company to date, has joined China Reform Holdings as a top executive, according to four people informed on the matter.
四名知情人士表示,曾主持中国企业迄今最大一宗海外收购的中国化工集团副总经理陆晓宝(Robert Lu),现已成为中国国新控股(China Reform Holdings)的高层管理人员。
Fluent in English and with experience in structured finance, Mr Lu’s move to China Reform is a sign that the $30bn fund will look to expand its direct investment overseas, some of these people said.
上述知情人士中的几位称,英语流利并拥有结构性融资经验的陆晓宝加入国新控股表明,这支300亿美元的基金将寻求扩大其海外直接投资。
Mr Lu declined to comment on the matter. ChemChina and China Reform Holdings did not respond to requests for comment. One person briefed on the matter said Mr Lu’s employment at China Reform Holdings was pending regulatory approvals and not yet fully confirmed.
陆晓宝拒绝就此事置评。中国化工与国新控股均未回应置评请求。一位了解情况的人士表示,陆晓宝入职国新控股一事还有待监管部门批准,目前尚未得到完全确认。
China Reform Holdings was created in 2010 to invest in the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and is supervised directly by the central government.
国新控股成立于2010年,主要投资国有企业重组,由中央政府直接监管。
Among its previous deals, it has taken stakes in China Tower Corp, which makes telecoms masts, and PetroChina. It also bought $7bn of perpetual bonds sold by ChemChina earlier this year to pay for the acquisition of Syngenta.
国新控股在以往的交易中已获得中国铁塔股份有限公司(China Tower Corp,负责兴建电信基站)以及中石油(PetroChina)的股权。今年早些时候,国新控股还购买了中国化工70亿美元的永续债券,这些债券是中国化工为筹集收购先正达所需的资金而发行的。
Earlier this year, it emerged that China Reform Holdings was in talks with a Chinese private equity fund JD Capital about a $2bn investment in a fund focused on overseas assets.
今年早些时候,有消息称,国新控股在与中国私募股权基金九鼎投资(JD Capital)就向后者投资20亿美元进行接洽。九鼎投资是一支专注海外资产的基金。
China Reform Holdings also backs investors connected to Canyon Bridge, which agreed to buy UK-based mobile graphics processor Imagination for £550m in September.
国新控股旗下的基金还投资了Canyon Bridge,这家企业今年9月同意以5.5亿英镑收购总部位于英国的移动设备图形处理器设计商Imagination。
Mr Lu built his reputation as the right-hand man to ChemChina chairman Ren Jianxin and was a crucial figure in structuring at least $55bn of overseas acquisitions by the company.
陆晓宝因作为中国化工集团董事长任建新的得力助手而声名鹊起,中国化工的海外收购中,有至少550亿美元的交易他是关键构建者之一。
Those deals include the acquisitions of Israeli pesticide producer Adama, Italy’s tyremaker Pirelli and Syngenta, China’s largest and most sensitive outbound investment to date.
这些交易包括对以色列农药生产商安道麦(Adama)、意大利轮胎制造商倍耐力(Pirelli)以及先正达的收购。收购先正达是中国迄今为止规模最大且最敏感的一宗海外收购。
ChemChina’s buyout of Syngenta, which was agreed in early 2016 but has yet to fully complete, faced major scrutiny over whether the Chinese group could produce the required funds. The deal involved the syndication of tens of billions of dollars in bonds and other complex financial products between both Chinese and international banks.
2016年初中国化工就商定收购先正达,但目前仍未完成收购;该项收购在如下问题上受到密切审视:这家中国公司能否拿出完成收购所需的资金。这笔交易涉及在中资和外资银行间通过债券及其他复杂的金融产品联合筹措数百亿美元。
Mr Lu’s departure may indicate that the company is slowing its overseas investments, these people added.
这几位知情人士补充道,陆晓宝的离职可能表明,中国化工正在放缓海外投资的步伐。
Other top dealmakers at ChemChina have left the company since the signing of the Syngenta deal. Chen Junwei, the former head of M&A, left after it was done and has joined Harvest Technology Investment, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, as its chief executive.
自收购先正达的协议签署以来,中国化工还有其他一些顶级交易撮合者离职。曾负责中国化工并购业务的陈峻伟,在收购先正达的协议达成后就离开了该公司,现任香港私募股权公司嘉实科技投资管理有限公司(Harvest Technology Investment)总经理。
Sinochem, a rival state chemicals group, is expected to take over core parts of ChemChina’s business in 2018, at which time Mr Ren could step down, people close to the matter say.
知情人士称,中国化工的竞争对手、另一家国有化工企业中化集团(Sinochem),预计将在2018年接管中国化工的部分核心业务,届时任建新有可能离任。