日本企业海外并购规模今年有望创新高

With Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp. said to be eyeing an acquisition of U.S. company Sprint Nextel Corp., chances are increasing for Japan to see the biggest boom year in cross-border deals in its history.

随着日本移动运营商软银股份有限公司(Softbank Corp.)表示正在考虑收购美国公司Sprint Nextel Corp.，日本企业今年跨境并购交易规模很有可能达到有史以来的最高水平。

Bolstered by a strong yen and sitting on piles of cash, Japanese companies have already spent $66 billion in 559 overseas acquisitions so far this year and were already on track to top last year's record of $84 billion, according to data provider Dealogic.

数据提供商Dealogic的数据显示，在强势日圆的支撑下，拥有大量现金的日本企业今年以来已经斥资660亿美元进行了559宗海外并购交易，并很有可能打破去年创下的840亿美元的记录。

A person with knowledge of the negotiations said Thursday that Softbank, the country's third-largest carrier by subscribers and a provider of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, is in advanced talks to buy Sprint in a deal expected to exceed $12.8 billion.

一位了解谈判内容的知情人士周四说，软银洽购Sprint的谈判正处于深入阶段，交易规模有望超过128亿美元。按照用户数量计算，软银是日本第三大运营商，它同时提供苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的iPhone手机。

If the deal goes through, it could rank as the third-biggest foreign purchase by a Japanese company on record. The biggest was Japan Tobacco Inc.'s $19.1 billion purchase, including debt, of the U.K.'s Gallaher Group in 2006. That was followed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s $13.7 billion purchase of Swiss drug maker Nycomed last year, according to Dealogic.

如果交易顺利达成，它可能成为日本企业有史以来规模第三大的海外并购交易。Dealogic的数据表明，日本企业规模最大的海外并购交易是2006年日本烟草(Japan Tobacco Inc.)斥资191亿美元（含债务）收购英国烟草公司Gallaher Group。排名第二的是武田药品工业(Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.)去年斥资137亿美元收购瑞士制药商奈科明(Nycomed)的交易。

With a growing subscriber base helped by iPhone sales, Softbank wouldn't necessarily fall into the category of a cash-flush Japanese corporate giant pressured to go overseas by the shrinking home market. Still, it has been a very active player on the merger and acquisition field, recently announcing plans to acquire smaller domestic rival eAccess Ltd. through a stock-swap deal valued at $2.3 billion. The company's biggest acquisition to date was a $17 billion acquisition of the Japanese arm of Vodafone Group PLC in 2006.

由于销售iPhone壮大了用户群，软银倒未必属于那种现金充裕、但迫于国内市场不断萎缩的压力而不得不进行海外并购的日本大型企业。话虽如此，软银在并购市场仍然表现得非常活跃。该公司最近宣布计划，欲通过换股的方式收购其在日本国内规模较小的竞争对手eAccess Ltd.，交易规模达到23亿美元。该公司迄今为止发起的规模最大的并购交易是2006年斥资170亿美元收购沃达丰空中通讯公司(Vodafone Group PLC)日本分公司。

Helped by both a solid capital base and cheap borrowing costs, Japanese companies have also emerged as strong buyers of U.S. assets as appetite for M&A deals elsewhere wanes due to the global economic slowdown. In late May, Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. agreed to buy U.S. grain handler Gavilon Group LLC in a deal worth as much as $3.6 billion, excluding debt. In August, Japan's Daikin Industries, the world's biggest air-conditioner company, agreed to pay $3.7 billion to acquire U.S. peer Goodman Global Inc.

就在其它地区因全球经济增长放缓而出现并购交易萎缩的同时，由于资本基础坚实、借贷成本低廉，日本企业成为了美国资产的有力买家。5月下旬，日本贸易企业丸红株式会社(Marubeni Corp.)同意斥资36亿美元（不含债务）收购美国粮食加工企业Gavilon Group LLC。今年8月，全球最大的空调制造商日本大金工业株式会社(Daikin Industries)同意支付37亿美元收购美国同行Goodman Global Inc.。

But Japan's track record in managing U.S. firms has been mixed. Toshiba Corp.'s $5.4 billion acquisition of U.S. nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric Co. in 2006 is often cited as one of the few successful examples.

但日本管理美国企业的记录可谓好坏参半。东芝公司(Toshiba Corp.)2006年斥资54亿美元收购美国核电站建造商西屋电气公司(Westinghouse Electric Co.)通常被认为是少数几个成功的案例之一。

One deal that flopped was NTT Communications Corp.'s $5.5 billion buyout of U.S. Internet-service provider Verio Inc. at the height of the technology bubble in 2000. The investment was later written off, as the Japanese company struggled to integrate the company into its global operations.

其中一笔以失败告终的交易是NTT Communications Corp.在2000年科技泡沫行将破裂之际以55亿美元收购美国互联网服务提供商Verio Inc.。由于这家日本企业难以将Verio整合到其全球业务中，这笔投资随后被冲销。

While questions hang over the ability of Japanese companies to run overseas operations, M&A bankers and lawyers say there are few signs of a slowdown in the country's buying binge, and more deals in their pipelines.

尽管日本企业运营海外业务的能力不断受到质疑，但负责并购业务的投资银行家和律师表示，几乎没有什么迹象表明日本企业海外并购的步伐正在放缓，正在等待实施的并购交易还有很多。