银行也“炒股炒成股东”

The competition has been described as “bloody, “rampant and even “carnivorous.

竞争一直被描述为“血腥的、“恶性的，甚至是“凶残的。

Amid the worst drought of initial public offerings and rights issues since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, equity capital market bankers are having to work extra hard to stay relevant this year.

今年是自雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒闭以来IPO（首次公开发行）和配股交易最为惨淡的一年，股权资本市场(ECM)的银行家们不得不格外努力以维持竞争优势。

In this tense atmosphere, investment bankers are bidding more aggressively – and sometimes disastrously – for so-called “block trade work, where banks buy large quantities of stock at a discount and sell it on to investors.

在这种严峻的形势下，投资银行家对所谓的“大宗交易类业务的竞标更为冒进。这种冒进有时会导致灾难性后果。“大宗交易是指银行以折扣价收购大量股票，然后再出售给投资者的业务。

The work has the advantage of boosting banks’ rankings in industry league tables, which are closely watched internally and also important for marketing purposes as many companies want to deal with only the top-ranked institutions.

这类业务可以提升银行在行业排行榜上的排名。这个排名在银行内部很受关注，并且由于许多公司只愿意与排名顶级的机构做交易，这种排名对营销也很有益处。

But block trade margins are often slim at best and, if the purchasing price is misjudged, banks vying for extra business can be left with millions of dollars in losses when the shares fall below the discount price offered at the initial auction.

然而大宗交易的利润率在最好的情况下也往往相当微薄，而如果误判收购价格，当股价跌至最初拍卖时的折扣价以下时，争夺这些额外业务的银行将不得不面对数百万美元的亏损。

“Competition is very tough these days, and there seem to be more examples of banks getting their fingers burnt by pushing a little bit too hard with their initial pricing on block trades, says a senior equity capital market banker at one of the top 10 banks.

一位资深ECM银行家表示：“如今竞争非常激烈，在大宗交易中因初始竞价过于冒进而自食其果的银行似乎更多了。这位银行家就职的银行位居排行榜前十之列。

Most recently, HSBC two weeks ago was left holding a more than €410m block of shares in Amadeus, a Spanish travel IT group, after it failed to attract enough investors to buy stock it was selling on behalf of Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.

最近的例子是，两周前汇丰(HSBC)代表德国汉莎航空公司(Deutsche Lufthansa)和法荷航空(Air France-KLM)出售西班牙旅游信息技术集团Amadeus的股份，但由于未能吸引足够的投资者购买，价值4.10亿欧元的股份砸在了自己的手里。

In the deal HSBC placed 5.28 per cent of Amadeus shares at €19 a share, representing a 1.8 per cent discount to the closing price the day before, described as “very tight by rivals.

在此次交易中，汇丰以每股19欧元的价格收购了Amadeus 5.28%的股份，这一价格较收购前一交易日收盘价折让1.8%，汇丰的竞争对手称这一折扣“太小。

Unable to attract enough investors at that price the bank was forced to disclose it had a more than 5 per cent stake in Amadeus to Spain’s market regulator. Amadeus shares are now trading at €17.96, although it is not clear how much the bank still owns.

汇丰在未能以上述价格吸引到足够的投资者后，不得不向西班牙股市监管机构披露它持有Amadeus逾5%的股份。Amadeus现在的股价只有17.96欧元了，不过不清楚目前汇丰还持有多少Amadeus的股票。

HSBC is far from alone. Earlier in the year Citigroup was left with a stake in Centrica, the British Gas supplier, after it failed to offload all of a ￡587m stake, while last year Goldman Sachs ended up with a stake in Monte dei Paschi, the Italian bank.

汇丰远非个例。今年早些时候，花旗集团(Citigroup)由于无法将英国天然气供应商Centrica价值5.87亿英镑的股票清仓而不得不被动持有其股份。而就在去年，高盛(Goldman Sachs)也最终把意大利西雅那银行(Monte dei Paschi)的股份砸在了手里。

Similarly, Nomura was left with shares in KBC Group, the Dutch bank, in October after a block trade, while Société Générale and BNP Paribas failed to dispose of some shares on a €499m block trade of Pernod Ricard, the French distiller, in March.

同样，在今年10月，野村证券(Nomura)在一次大宗交易之后也被迫持有荷兰的比利时联合银行(KBC Group)的股份，而在今年3月，法国兴业银行(Société Générale)与法国巴黎银行(BNP Paribas)在一次针对法国酿酒商保乐力加(Pernod Ricard)的4.99亿欧元规模的大宗交易中也未能处置掉部分股票。

Bankers point out that banks can hold a rump stake in the company and gradually sell down the shares over time, perhaps even at a profit. Block trades can also help develop relationships with important clients.

银行家们指出，银行可以持有剩下的少量股份，随着时间推移逐渐卖掉它们，没准还会有盈利。另外，大宗交易还有助于发展与重要客户的关系。

All the banks declined to comment.

所有银行均拒绝置评。

But estimates from other bankers suggest that losses on some of the botched deals this year have run up to tens of millions of euros. “I do not think any bank sets out to make a loss on a trade, but their desire for deals at the moment can easily push them too far, says one banker, explaining the phenomenon.

不过根据其他银行家的估计，今年一些失败交易的亏损高达数千万欧元。一位银行家对此解释称：“我觉得每家银行在参与交易时并未打算亏损，但当时他们太想达成交易，这样就很容易过于冒进。

Craig Coben, head of European equity capital markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says the tough environment is to blame: “The old saying is ‘league tables keep your job but revenues get you paid’. Right now the emphasis at some banks is on maintaining relevance.

美国银行美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)欧洲ECM部门主管克雷格·科本(Craig Coben)表示，这归咎于残酷的市场环境：“俗话说：‘排名保住你的饭碗，而营收保住你的薪水’。现在一些银行的重点在于保持竞争力。

The environment has rarely been worse. Despite a recent flurry of IPO deals from Direct Line, the insurance arm of RBS, and Telefónica Deutschland, as the secondary equity market has improved since the summer, global equity capital market volumes are still at their lowest since 2005 year to date.

市场环境很少像现在这么糟糕。尽管最近苏格兰皇家银行(RBS)保险分支机构Direct Line以及西班牙电信德国公司(Telefónica Deutschland)的IPO带来了短暂的繁荣，同时全球二级股票市场自今年夏天以来已经转暖，但全球ECM规模仍处于2005年以来的最低点。

The $540bn worth of activity this year is down nearly 30 per cent from the same period in 2010 and 7?per cent from last year, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)的数据显示，今年ECM交易规模为5400亿美元，比2010年同期下降近30%，比去年同期下降了7%。

And the $13.6bn in fees generated from equity capital market activity by investment banks is the lowest since 2003 and is down 20 per cent from last year.

而投行从ECM交易赚取的136亿美元佣金则为2003年来的最低水平，比去年下降了20%。

Block trades have accounted for nearly 50 per cent of all equity capital market deals in the year to date, the highest on record, according to data from Dealogic, illustrating their importance when times get tough.

根据Dealogic公司的数据，今年迄今大宗交易占全部ECM交易的比例达到近50%，为有记录以来的最高水平，这表明了大宗交易在艰难时势中的重要性。

Five of the top 10 global ECM deals since 2008 have been block trades.

自2008年以来的全球10大ECM交易中，五个是大宗交易。

The beneficiary of banks bidding hard for blocks is often the client selling down its stake.

银行全力竞标大宗股份，受益的往往是那些抛售的客户。

“This isn’t a case of bankers eager to take on risk, but rather clients exploiting a competitive landscape to put market risk on to the banks, says one senior banker.

一位高级银行家表示：“这种情况并不是银行急切地将风险揽上身，而是客户利用竞争性局面将市场风险转嫁给银行。

When a trade does go wrong, however, companies can find they have an unexpected big shareholder in the form of a bank.

然而，如果交易不成功，企业可能会发现银行出人意料地成为了它们的大股东。

“It is not exactly a welcome development for a company when this happens, as banks are hardly long-term investors, says another banker.

另一位银行家表示：“企业并不真正欢迎这一变化，因为银行很少是长线投资者。

The top three banks so far this year for ECM volumes are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi with around $45bn each, according to Thomson Reuters.

汤森路透的数据显示，今年迄今ECM规模前三的银行为高盛、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)以及花旗，每家的规模大约为450亿美元。

The top three for fees are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, making just under $1bn each year to date.

佣金收入前三名的银行是摩根大通(JPMorgan)、摩根士丹利以及美国银行美林，迄今为止每年的佣金收入接近10亿美元。