清华紫光终止38亿美元美国投资计划

A Chinese state-controlled technology group has terminated a $3.8bn plan to become the largest shareholder in data storage group Western Digital, after the investment was flagged for an investigation by US authorities.

中国政府控股的一家高科技集团终止了成为美国数据存储集团——西部数据(Western Digital)最大股东的38亿美元投资计划。此前美国当局指明要调查这笔投资。

Yesterday a unit of Tsinghua Unigroup, China’s most ambitious overseas acquirer in the chipmaking sector, said it would abandon a deal agreed last September that would have seen it acquire a stake of about 15 per cent.

清华紫光(Tsinghua Unigroup)是中国在芯片制造领域境外收购最雄心勃勃的集团。昨天，该集团的一个部门表示，将放弃去年9月达成的一宗交易，按照协议该集团原本会收购约15%的股份。

Shares in Western Digital had slumped more than 6 per cent by late yesterday morning, to $42.93. The California-based company said the deal with Tsinghua had fallen apart after a decision by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (Cfius) to investigate the transaction.

昨天接近中午时分，西部数据股价下滑逾6%，至每股42.93美元。这家总部位于加利福尼亚州的企业表示，在美国外国投资委员会(CFIUS)决定调查该交易之后，与清华紫光达成的交易已破裂。

The move comes at a time when Chinese companies are striking large overseas deals at the fastest pace in history, even as concerns remain about their ability to close the transactions.

这种局面出现之际，中国企业正以史上最快节奏在境外发起大规模收购——尽管有关它们能否完成交易的担忧挥之不去。

Shares in Western Digital have fallen sharply in the past year. This has affected both the value of its $19bn cash and stock acquisition of SanDisk, a flash-memory disk maker, as well as the premium of the investment from Unisplendour, the Tsinghua subsidiary.

过去一年里西部数据的股价急剧下滑。这不仅影响了该集团以现金和股票形式对闪存盘制造商晟碟(SanDisk)的190亿美元收购的价值，也影响了清华紫光子公司紫光控股(Unisplendour)对其投资的溢价。

The deal would have seen Tsinghua given the right to nominate one person to the board of Western Digital. Neither company would incur a termination fee, Western Digital said.

按照协议，清华紫光原本能通过该交易获得在西部数据董事会提名一位董事的权利。西部数据表示，双方均无需支付解约金。

One Washington-based lawyer said it was odd for Tsinghua to walk away from the deal as the government had only said it would investigate the investment, not that it would block the deal.

一位驻华盛顿的律师表示，由于美国政府只是表示会调查（而不是封杀）这一交易，清华紫光退出该交易有点奇怪。

“All that happened here was that Cfius said it was a covered transaction and that they would look into it,” he said. “The Chinese were getting a board seat and a joint venture was being formed, so of course they would review it.”

他说：“CFIUS只是表示该交易属于其调查范围，他们会对其开展调查，这就是事情的全部。中国人将获得一个董事会席位，双方将成立一家合资企业。出于这个原因，他们当然会审查这一交易。”

The collapse marks the second time this year such a transaction has collapsed due to scrutiny by Cfius, the US body which reviews foreign investments for national security concerns.

这一交易的破裂是今年第二宗因CFIUS审查而破裂的交易。CFIUS是从国家安全角度对外来投资开展审查的美国机构。