TEXT 47
Who's your Daddy?
你爸爸是谁？（陈继龙编译）
Jul 13th 2006 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
（1）SO CHINA got its way after all. The takeover battle for PCCW, Hong Kong's incumbent telecoms company, ended this week before it had even properly begun. On July 10th Francis Leung, a local t_______①, stepped in to buy a 23% stake in PCCW held by its founder and chairman Richard Li, for HK$9.2 billion ($1.2 billion). Mr Leung's offer, for the moment at least, scuppers[1] bids from two private-equity firms, Australia's Macquarie Bank and America's TPG-Newbridge, which were both willing to pay HK$60 billion for all of PCCW's telecoms and media assets.
中国这次总算如愿以偿了。本周，一场争夺香港电信公司PCCW（电讯盈科）控股权的较量甚至还没有真正开始就收场了。7月10日，香港大实业家梁伯韬介入，以92亿港元（12亿美元）的价格收购了电讯盈科公司创始人及总裁李泽楷持有的该公司23％的股份。至少从目前看，梁伯韬的出价让两家私有股份公司——澳大利亚麦格理银行和美国TPG新桥投资集团的竞购落了空。这两家公司均希望支付600亿港元以收购电讯盈科全部电信和媒体资产。
（2）That Mr Leung appeared on the scene so quickly is surprising; the original bids became public just a few weeks ago. That he has appeared at all is less so. The Chinese government, through China Netcom, a state-owned telecoms group that owns 20% of PCCW, opposed a “foreign” takeover and wanted the Hong Kong firm to stay in local hands. Netcom believed that Mr Li's attempt to sell the firm's assets v________② a pact that gave Netcom a say in any sale of the company. That Mr Li apparently did not mention this pact to the private-equity bidders suggests that he knew his planned sale would displease his Chinese partner.
梁伯韬这么快就亮相，着实令人感到惊讶；公开竞购也就是几个星期前的事。本来，他的出现早在人们意料之中。（译注：less so应该指代less surprising，at all表示“根本上”。全句大概意思是：考虑到梁本人与政府的关系，他的出现是迟早的事，人们本来不会感到特别意外，但他会这么快就“闪亮登场”就有些出人意料了。）中国政府由持有电讯盈科20％股份的国有电信公司——中国网通出面，反对由“外资”控股，希望这家香港公司能继续掌握在本地人手中。网通认为，李泽楷擅自出售电讯盈科资产，违反了一条关于网通对参与公司任何出售行为均拥有发言权的协定。李泽楷对那两家私有股竞购公司只字不提这一协定，表明他明知他筹划的这次出售会令中方感到不快。
Though Macquarie and Newbridge were prepared to bring Netcom and Hong Kong investors into their consortia[2] and d________③ themselves into a minority position, it was not enough. As the co-founder of Peregrine Investments, a Hong Kong investment bank that pioneered the flotations[3] of “red chip” mainland companies on the Hong Kong stockmarket in the 1990s, Mr Leung's strong links with China proved decisive. Though Peregrine went bust during the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, Mr Leung emerged unscathed[4] and went on to hold senior jobs, including one at Citigroup Asia. Most importantly, he is the favourite banker of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man and the father of Richard Li, whose takeover of Hong Kong Telecom by PCCW Mr Leung helped to organise in 2000.
麦格理和新桥虽然已经准备好将网通和香港投资者纳入它们的企业集团，并且打算逐渐减少控股数，但还是不够火候。事实证明，作为香港百富勒投资银行创办人之一的梁伯韬，他同中国政府的密切关系起到了决定性作用。上世纪90年代，百富勒一度成为“根正苗红”的内地公司在香港股市发行股票的开路先锋。虽然该银行在1997年至1998年间发生的亚洲金融危机过程中破产，但梁伯韬本人却安然无恙，并且继续步步高升，其中包括曾在花旗银行担任高级职务。最为重要的是，这位银行家很受香港首富、李泽楷之父李嘉诚青睐，而李泽楷用于并购香港电讯公司的电讯盈科就是在2000年由梁伯韬协助组建的。
This week's deal means that Hong Kong's main telecoms assets stay in local hands, but are in effect controlled by Netcom. Macquarie and Newbridge go away empty-handed, at least for now.（3）One person close to events, however, believes they could end up taking a stake in any consortium formed by Mr Leung to finance the purchase of his stake.
本周的这场交易意味着香港电信核心资产虽仍掌握在香港人手中，但实际上却处于网通的操控之下。麦格理和新桥两手空空地打道回府了，至少目前如此。然而，某知情人士认为，无论梁伯韬为了筹资购股将组建怎样的企业财团，它们可能最终还是会参股。
It is PCCW's public minority shareholders who are the clear losers. Mr Li hopes to appease them by paying them around HK$0.35 a share as a special d________④ from his own pocket. That is the difference between PCCW's share price before takeover talks started and Mr Leung's offer: Mr Li is, in effect, giving away his premium.（4）Even so, minority shareholders stood to gain far more from a sale to one of the two private-equity bidders; and PCCW's share price has fallen more than 90% since 2000.
很显然，电讯盈科的小股东才是输家。李泽楷希望通过自掏腰包，向他们支付每股约0.35港元的特别股息，从而平息其愤怒。这一特别股息相当于并购商谈开始之前电讯盈科每股售价与梁伯韬报价之间的差价——事实上，这就等于李泽楷在派发自己的交易溢价。即便如此，假如电讯盈科是出售给那两家私有股份公司，这些小股东得到的好处将远不止这些；何况2000年以来，电讯盈科的股价已经下跌了超过90％。
Mr Li comes out smiling, having struck what was probably the best deal he could get. He collects cash for most of his stake (though he is allowing Mr Leung to pay 70% of the total price later) and can now focus on other ventures. （5）The chief damage is to his ego. Mr Li's attempt to escape from his father's shadow by building up PCCW over the past few years has failed. All the talk in Hong Kong is that his exit, via Mr Leung, was at least partly arranged by Dad. At the same time, this sorry s_______⑤ demonstrates with equal clarity that Hong Kong's real daddy is Beijing.
李泽楷笑盈盈地退出了电讯盈科，同时对什么才是最划算的交易心里也有了底。他的大多数股票都得以套现（虽然他后来同意梁伯韬可以延后支付70％的款项），现在可以把目光对准其它投机生意了。要说受到伤害，主要还是他的自尊心。过去几年来，李泽楷一直试图通过发展电讯盈科走出其父亲的阴影，可最终还是功亏一篑。所有香港人都说，他能够藉梁伯韬介入之机退出电讯盈科，至少部分出于其父亲的安排。与此同时，这一令人感到遗憾、富有传奇色彩的事件同样也清楚地表明，香港真正的“父亲”是北京。
[QUIZ]
1. 根据首字母以及括号内的词性提示和英文释义填入单词（注意复数、时态形式变化等）：
①t________（n. someone who is successful in business or industry and has a lot of money and power）
②v________（v. to disobey or do something against an official agreement, law, principle etc）
③d________（v. to make a quality, belief etc weaker or less effective；water down）
④d________（n. a part of a company's profit that is divided among the people with shares in the company）
⑤s________ （n. a long story about events that happen over many years）
2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：
3．汉译英（根据译文提示和上下文，在空白处填入相应英文）：
[NOTES](LONGMAN)
1. scupper v.破坏计划（多用于新闻报道，＝scuttle）；故意沉船，凿沉
2. consortium n. （pl. consortia）财团；企业集团
3. flotation n. 股票发行（时间）
4. unscathed adj. （escape/emerge ~）未受伤的；安然无恙的
[KEY TO QUIZ]
1. ①tycoon 大亨，巨头（media/property/business/newspaper tycoon）
②violated 违反（表示“to not obey a rule or law”：disobey违反，不服从 • break a rule/law违反规则；违犯法律 • violate • disregard 漠视；忽视• contravene 违犯；与……相抵触• flout侮辱，轻蔑；无视
③dilute 削弱；淡化
④dividend 股息；红利
⑤saga 传奇；长篇故事（与“故事”有关的词汇：story 故事• tale 故事；传说• fiction小说；虚构的故事 • myth神话 • legend 传说；传奇• anecdote奇闻轶事 • saga • epic史诗；伟大事迹）
2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）