Nestlé SA is in talks to buy Chinese candy maker Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd., according to a person familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the biggest foreign takeovers of a Chinese company.
據一位知情人士透露，雀巢公司(Nestle SA)正在就收購中國糖果生產商徐福記國際集團(Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd.)進行談判。這有可能成為規模最大的外資收購中國公司交易之一。
The talks between Nestlé and Hsu Fu are at a delicate stage and still have a number of hurdles to cross, the person said. Any deal for Hsu Fu, which has a market value of $2.6 billion, is weeks away, the person added.
據這位知情人士透露，雀巢與徐福記的談判正處於一個微妙階段，仍需要跨越很多障礙；徐福記市值26億美元，任何針對該公司的併購交易都要數周之後才會達成。
Many big western companies like Nestlé, the world's largest food company by sales, are scouring developing markets for deals amid sluggish growth at home. But such deals aren't easy to pull off.
雀巢等很多大型西方公司在國內增長疲弱之際，紛紛開始在發展中國家市場尋找併購機會。不過這樣的交易並不容易實現。雀巢是全球銷售額最大的食品公司。
In 2009, Chinese authorities rejected a $2.4 billion bid by Coca-Cola Co. to buy all of Chinese soft drinks maker Huiyuan Juice Group Co. It took U.K. liquor giant Diageo PLC 16 months to win Chinese regulatory approval for its bid to take control of a local Sichuan white-spirits maker.
2009年，中國當局駁回了可口可樂(Coca-Cola Co.)斥資24億美元全盤收購中國軟飲料生產商匯源果汁(Huiyuan Juice Group Co.)的申請。而英國烈酒生產巨頭帝亞吉歐公司(Diageo PLC)收購中國四川一家白酒生產商的交易則花了16個月的時間才獲得了中國監管部門的批准。
Diageo's approval to buy Chinese baijiu brand Shui Jing Fang, announced this past week, could indicate that Chinese authorities are more open to such deals.
帝亞吉歐收購中國白酒品牌水井坊的申請獲批一事於上周公布，該交易可能意味著中國當局對這類交易更加開放。
But the Hsu Fu deal is a complex one, not least because few takeovers on this scale have ever been pulled off in China. The Diageo deal involves a company valued at less than $1 billion.
不過，收購徐福記則是一樁複雜的交易，主要是因為在中國如此規模的併購交易幾乎從未實現過。畢竟，帝亞吉歐收購的對象是一家市值不足10億美元的公司。
A Nestlé spokesman declined to comment. Hsu Fu officials couldn't be reached after hours at the company's Dongguan headquarters.
雀巢發言人拒絕置評。記者試圖聯繫東莞徐福記總部的管理人士，但聯繫了幾個小時都未果。
Hsu Fu is 19-year-old company founded by the Hsu brothers who still own a significant stake. The company, which makes chocolate, other candy and the Chinese pastry sachima, had a profit of 602 million yuan ($93 million) on revenue of 4.3 billion yuan in the 12 months ended June 30, 2010. The company's shares are traded in Singapore.
徐福記由徐氏兄弟創立於19年前，他們現在仍持有該公司相當數量的股權。徐福記生產巧克力等糖果以及中式點心沙琪瑪。在截至2010年6月30日的12個月中，徐福記實現利潤人民幣6.02億元（合9,300萬美元），實現收入人民幣43億元。該公司股票在新加坡上市。
The talks between Nestlé and Hsu Fu were earlier reported by Bloomberg News.
彭博新聞(Bloomberg News)此前曾報導過雀巢和徐福記之間的談判。
Nestlé, maker of brands such as Nescafe, Häagen-Dazs and Purina, has been looking to increase its sales in the emerging markets from about a third now to nearly half within a decade. It has also been reformulating some traditional products and putting them in lower cost packaging so that it can sell them at lower price points that poorer shoppers can afford. Sales in Nestlé's Asian and African division rose nearly 12% in the first three months of this year, the fastest growth of any region.
雀巢旗下的品牌包括雀巢咖啡(Nescafe)、哈根達斯(Haagen-Dazs)和普瑞納(Purina)。該公司一直計劃在10年內將新興市場銷售額的佔比從目前的三分之一提高到近一半。該公司也在調整一些傳統產品的生產，對這類產品使用成本更低的包裝，以便能夠以較低的價格銷售，讓較拮据的消費者也買得起。今年前三個月，雀巢亞洲和非洲部門的銷售額增長了近12%，是所有地區中增速最快的。
The deal would also boost Nestlé's confectionery business, which makes up about 12% of sales, but has been a laggard, particularly compared with rivals such as Cadbury, a division of Kraft Foods Inc. that have large candy businesses in countries such as India and Mexico. In recent years, some analysts wondered whether Nestlé might sell the business, which includes brands such as KitKat and Nestlé Crunch. Instead, it has pushed harder on innovation and raised sales growth. This past week, it launched KitKat in Brazil for the first time.
這樁交易還將提振雀巢的糖果業務。糖果業務佔了雀巢總銷售額的約12%，不過一直處於落後狀態，特別是與卡夫食品(Kraft Foods Inc.)旗下的吉百利(Cadbury)等競爭對手相比。這些公司在印度和墨西哥等國擁有規模龐大的糖果業務。近年來，一些分析人士猜測雀巢可能會出售糖果業務。雀巢糖果業務包括奇巧(KitKat)和Nestle Crunch脆米果巧克力。相反，雀巢更大力度地推進創新，提高了銷售增速。上周，雀巢首次在巴西推出了奇巧。