分析：泰国富豪入股平安的“秘诀”

Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and chief executive of Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, is a household name at home but little known overseas.

泰国正大集团(Charoen Pokphand Group，中国以外称“卜蜂集团，以下简称“正大)董事长兼首席执行官谢国民(Dhanin Chearavanont)在泰国国内家喻户晓，在海外却名气寥寥。

But that changed last week. Mr Dhanin’s unlisted CP Group, the umbrella for a vast network of companies including the listed CP Foods, struck an audacious $9.4bn deal to buy HSBC’s 15.4 per cent stake in Ping An, China’s second-largest insurer.

但上周，情况发生了变化。谢国民旗下未上市的正大集团达成了一笔94亿美元的大胆交易，该集团将购入汇丰银行(HSBC)持有的中国第二大保险公司——平安保险(Ping An)15.6%的股权。正大旗下公司无数，包括已上市的正大食品(CP Foods)。

The transaction is one of the largest M and A deals ever by a Thai company and the second largest in Asia this year, after Chinese oil group Cnooc’s $18bn takeover of Canada’s Nexen.

这是泰国企业规模最大的并购交易之一，其规模今年在亚洲排名第二，排名第一的是中国石油集团——中海油(CNOOC)以180亿美元收购加拿大尼克森(Nexen)的交易。

The world suddenly appeared to take notice, not only of Mr Dhanin but also of Thailand’s M and A boom, which has seen Thai companies agree nearly $19bn worth of – mainly cross-border – deals this year, according to Dealogic.

突然之间，全世界似乎不仅开始关注谢国民，还把注意力投向泰国的并购热潮，根据Dealogic的数据，泰国企业今年达成了价值近190亿美元的并购交易，主要是跨境交易。

Like Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose TCCgroup is at the centre of a $7.3bn bid to gain control of Singapore’s Fraser and Neave, Mr Dhanin is a Thai tycoon of Chinese ethnicity.

与苏旭明(Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi)一样，谢国民也是一位祖籍在中国的泰国富豪。苏旭明掌控的泰昌祥集团(TCCgroup)正以73亿美元竞购新加坡星狮(Fraser And Neave)，以获得其控股权。

“Khun Dhanin is the archetypal, old-style Chinese-Thai tycoon, says a Thai businessman who has known Mr Dhanin for many years, using the Thai honorific.

一位与谢国民认识多年的泰国商人表示：“谢国民先生是典型的老派华裔泰国富豪。他在说到谢国民的名字时使用了泰语中的敬语。

“He is completely unprepossessing – you might think he runs a mid-sized trading company – and totally absorbed in business and family, he says.

他表示：“他十分不起眼，你可能会以为他经营着一家中等规模的贸易公司，他把全部精力都投入到了企业和家庭之中。

Forbes recently put Mr Dhanin’s net worth at $9bn. CP Group, which employs nearly 300,000 people globally, is expected to bring in more than $35bn in revenue this year. According to analysts, the company is the world’s largest producer of animal feed at 26m tonnes per year, and top global producer of processed shrimp.

《福布斯》(Forbes)最近对谢国民财富净值的评估为90亿美元。正大在全球拥有近30万名员工，预计今年将实现逾350亿美元的收入。分析师称，该公司是全球最大动物饲料生产商，年产量为2600万吨，同时也是全球最大虾加工品生产商。

Mr Dhanin, who has five grown up children and many grandchildren, lives in much the same style as when he was growing up: several generations live in a five-storey building in a Bangkok suburb.

谢国民有5名成年子女，孙辈众多，他的生活方式与他年少时大体一样：几代人生活在曼谷郊区的一栋五层别墅里。

He was born in Thailand in 1938 but his strong links with China go back to Guangdong province. His father, Ek Chor, emigrated to Thailand with his brother, Siew Whooy, and established CP in 1921 as an agricultural seed shop.

1938年，他生于泰国，但他与中国的密切联系要回溯到广东剩1921年，他的父亲谢易初(Ek Chor)与弟弟谢少飞(Siew Whooy)移民泰国，并创建了正大，当时只是一个农作物种子店。

The pair built the business aggressively, branching into production of animal feed and, later, after Mr Dhanin joined his elders, livestock farming, marketing and distribution.

两兄弟大胆拓展业务，其业务领域延伸到动物饲料生产，后来，在谢国民加入其父辈之后，又开始进军畜牧业、营销和分销领域。

Mr Dhanin had a flair for business, and according to those who know him, was always thinking of ways to expand, both existing businesses and into new areas.

谢国民具备经商天赋，据认识他的人说，他一直在思考扩张的方法，既包括扩张现有业务，还包括进军新的领域。

There was no time for a university education. By the 1970s, the company had built a monopoly in poultry and egg production in Thailand and branched out, moving into Indonesia, Japan and Singapore through the 1970s.

他没有时间接受大学教育。到上世纪70年代，正大已垄断泰国的禽肉、蛋类生产，并在整个70年代，将业务扩大到印尼、日本和新加坡。

By the early 1990s, the group was moving into more diverse businesses including telecoms and retailing through its 7-Elevenfranchise, through which it operates nearly 6,500 stores in Thailand.

到90年代初，正大开始进军更多其他业务，包括电信以及零售（通过其7-11(7-Eleven)特许连锁）。正大在泰国经营着近6500家7-11门店。

But China was always in Mr Dhanin’s sights. As the first multinational to enter China’s agricultural sector, in 1979, Mr Dhanin built close ties to the Communist party leadership, securing a leading – and highly lucrative – role in the country’s agricultural modernisation drive.

但谢国民一直关注中国。1979年，作为第一家进军中国农业领域的跨国公司，谢国民与中国共产党领导层建立了密切的关系，在中国农业现代化进程中获得了领先地位，并且因此收益极其丰厚。

CP is now the largest foreign lessee of agricultural land in China with at least 200,000ha of property devoted to animal feed and livestock production among other agribusiness activities. China accounts for more than half of CP’s agribusiness profits. CP also owns 75 Lotus supermarkets.

正大现在是中国农业用地最大外国承租商，至少有20万公顷的土地用于动物饲料、畜牧业生产以及其他农业活动。中国占正大农业利润的逾一半。该集团还拥有75家易初莲花(Lotus)超市。

These ties with the Communist leadership, as well as the promising outlook for the country’s insurance industry, lie at the heart of Mr Dhanin’s investment in Ping An.

与中共领导层的这些关系以及中国保险行业大有希望的前景，是谢国民投资平安保险的关键原因。

While some analysts expressed surprise at CP’s move into financial services, the company had positioned itself for such a move. In a little-known agreement forged over the past year, CP Group secured approval from Beijing to engage in financial transactions.

尽管一些分析师对于正大进军金融服务业感到意外，但该公司对这一步已早有准备。在过去一年，正大达成了一项几乎不为人知的协议，获得了中国政府的批准，可参与金融交易。

In a recent speech in Bangkok, Mr Dhanin said he expected “another great leap forward for China after its recent leadership change, and urged Thai companies to invest, repeating predictions that China would shortly displace the US as the world’s leading economy.

在最近在曼谷的一次演讲中，谢国民表示他预测，在最近领导层换届之后，中国将“向前迈出又一大步，他还敦促泰国企业在中国投资，他重复之前的预测道，中国将很快超过美国，成为全球领先经济体。

However, it was not a straight line to the top. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the ensuing plunge of the Thai baht inflicted huge losses on Mr Dhanin and CP Group. At one point, his net wealth fell to less than $1bn.

然而，正大的历程并非一帆风顺。1997年的亚洲金融危机以及随后出现的泰铢暴跌，给谢国民及其正大集团造成了巨大亏损。他的财富净值曾一度降至不到10亿美元。

Ironically, it was HSBC, calling in $400m worth of loans in 1998, that inflicted the biggest hit. Mr Dhanin sold a swath of non-core businesses and slashed costs.

具有讽刺意味的是，最沉重的一击来自汇丰，该银行曾在1998年收回了价值4亿美元的贷款。谢国民为此出售了部分非核心业务并削减了成本。

“I was prepared to use any means to ensure our survival, he told Time magazine in 2004. “It felt bad, but I always believed we’d get it back tomorrow.

“我那时准备好利用一切办法确保我们的存活，他曾在2004年告诉《时代》(Time)杂志，“这感觉很糟，但我总是认为，明天我们就会夺回一切。