Move over boutique houses. Home-grown investment banks are taking root within China’s tech groups, which are fostering in-house M&A groups to carry out their multi-billion dollar shopping sprees.
繞過(guò)精品投行。土生土長(zhǎng)的投行部門開始在中國(guó)的科技集團(tuán)內(nèi)生根,這些集團(tuán)正在培育內(nèi)部并購(gòu)(M&A)團(tuán)隊(duì),為數(shù)十億美元的收購(gòu)提供服務(wù)。
Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent— China’s internet trinity collectively known as BAT — are among the country’s biggest dealmakers, spending a combined $64bn on acquisitions in the past 18 months, according to Dealogic data.
Dealogic數(shù)據(jù)顯示,被合稱為“BAT”的中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)三巨頭——百度(Baidu)、阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和騰訊(Tencent)如今已進(jìn)入該國(guó)最大交易機(jī)構(gòu)行列,過(guò)去18個(gè)月共斥資640億美元進(jìn)行收購(gòu)。
The trio are home to alumni from Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks and now boast in-house banking units of 40 to 70 people apiece, according to industry players.
這三家企業(yè)中擁有許多曾在高盛(Goldman Sachs)等華爾街投行任職的員工,目前每一家都成立了40人至70人的內(nèi)部投行部門。
The function reflects expanding portfolios of strategic and venture capital investments alongside a belief that investment banks increasingly lack the wherewithal to keep pace in the fast-changing world of tech.
這一職能部門的設(shè)立,反映出戰(zhàn)略與風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資的投資組合不斷擴(kuò)大,以及一種觀念:投行越來(lái)越缺乏必要資本、無(wú)法跟上快速變化的科技世界。
“Investment banks nowadays have lost the capability to advise clients in M&A transactions,” said one in-house player. “In the internet world things are changing so fast that investment banks are finding it hard to keep up with the industrial logic of why certain M&A should or should not happen.”
“如今的投行已喪失了在并購(gòu)交易中向客戶提供咨詢服務(wù)的能力,”一名公司內(nèi)部投行部門人士說(shuō)。“在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)領(lǐng)域,事物的變化太快了,投行開始發(fā)現(xiàn)很難跟上某些并購(gòu)交易應(yīng)當(dāng)或者不應(yīng)當(dāng)發(fā)生的行業(yè)邏輯。”
While bankers in oil and gas or finance know these industries “as well as the industry guy running the business”, tech bankers know “maybe 1 per cent of what we know about our business”, the person added.
此人補(bǔ)充稱,盡管油氣或金融領(lǐng)域的投行人員了解這些行業(yè)“以及這些行業(yè)中的企業(yè)掌管者”,但科技領(lǐng)域的投行員工“對(duì)我們企業(yè)的了解程度或許僅僅相當(dāng)于我們自己的1%。”
“It’s all DIY,” said Scott Likens, partner at PWC. “It’s partly about control, partly being flush with funds and partly not trusting foreign bankers or not wanting to give away money.”
“這一行全是DIY,”普華永道(PWC)合伙人李敬思(Scott Likens)說(shuō)。“部分原因是為了掌控,部分原因是資金太多,還有部分原因在不信任外部人或不想花錢。”
However, bankers are quick to distinguish the BAT bankers from the big Chinese state-owned enterprises and other institutions that cut out bankers to skimp on fees. “I don’t want to do these small deals,” said one banker.
然而,銀行家很快可以把BAT內(nèi)部投行員工跟那些為了省錢而不聘用銀行的中國(guó)大型國(guó)企和其他機(jī)構(gòu)區(qū)分開來(lái)。“我不想做這些小案子,”一名銀行家說(shuō)。
Some 65 of Tencent’s deals over the past 18 months were for less than $500m, according to Dealogic, compared with 75 bigger acquisitions; in Baidu’s case the split was 20 small deals versus just two above $500m.
Dealogic數(shù)據(jù)顯示,騰訊在過(guò)去18個(gè)月里實(shí)施的大約65個(gè)收購(gòu)案規(guī)模都不到5億美元,75項(xiàng)交易的規(guī)模則更大;至于百度,實(shí)施了20個(gè)小型收購(gòu)案,規(guī)模高于5億美元的案子僅有2個(gè)。
Another banker points to the trio’s bulging pipelines of deals, from partnerships through to acquisitions. “If they were to complete everything they are working on today there will be a couple of hundred items in there,” said one banker. “For the substantial majority of these they would never hire an outsider.”
另一名銀行家提到了上述三巨頭日益增多的交易結(jié)構(gòu)——從合作到收購(gòu)。“如果他們今天正實(shí)施的項(xiàng)目,一切流程都由自己操辦的話,那么項(xiàng)目將有一兩百個(gè),”一名銀行家說(shuō)。“在這些項(xiàng)目中的絕大部分,他們將不會(huì)聘用外來(lái)者去實(shí)施。”
Added another: “The deals come to them. They are out looking but have enough prominence that they can sit around and look at 100 a day and choose one.”
另一名銀行家接著說(shuō):“交易到了他們手里。他們朝外看,但擁有足夠高的聲望,結(jié)果就到處坐坐,每天看100個(gè)項(xiàng)目,然后從中選出1個(gè)。”
The expanding functions in-house contrast with the shrinking world outside: big global banks have cut up to 15 per cent of their Asian investment bankers since 2012 as the gap between Asian M&A fees and those paid by western clients ballooned to its highest level in more than a decade.
內(nèi)部投行職能部門的擴(kuò)張,與外部投行的收縮形成了反差:隨著亞洲并購(gòu)交易收費(fèi)與西方客戶付費(fèi)金額之間的差距上升至10多年來(lái)最高水平,全球大型銀行已削減了高達(dá)15%的亞洲投行員工數(shù)量。
The in-house deal teams are composed largely of former bankers, private equity executives and consultants. Prominent banking alumni include Tencent’s Martin Lau and James Mitchell, respectively president and chief strategy officer and both formerly of Goldman Sachs.
內(nèi)部交易團(tuán)隊(duì)主要由前投行員工、私人股本公司高管和咨詢顧問(wèn)組成。知名的投行業(yè)同僚包括騰訊的劉熾平(Martin Lau)和詹姆斯•米切爾(James Mitchell),此二人都曾在高盛任職,目前分別擔(dān)任騰訊的總裁和首席戰(zhàn)略官。
Alibaba president Michael Evans and Douglas Feagin, who runs the international operations of Ant Financial, Alibaba’s online payments affiliate, also hailed from the US bank. Alibaba was an early player, hiring Wei Zhang — now president of Alibaba Pictures — as its first head of strategic investments in 2008. The team at Baidu is understood to be the smallest of the three.
阿里巴巴總裁邁克•埃文斯(Mike Evans)和集團(tuán)在線支付業(yè)務(wù)子公司螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)的國(guó)際業(yè)務(wù)負(fù)責(zé)人道格拉斯•費(fèi)根(Douglas Feagin),也來(lái)自高盛。阿里巴巴是這方面的先行者,在2008年聘用張蔚——如今的阿里影業(yè)(Alibaba Pictures)總裁——擔(dān)任集團(tuán)的首位戰(zhàn)略投資部負(fù)責(zé)人。據(jù)了解,百度的內(nèi)部交易團(tuán)隊(duì)是三巨頭中最小的。