中国邮政储蓄银行巨额IPO暗藏隐忧

HONG KONG — China’s biggest banks are struggling with a slowing economy, rising bad debts and shrinking profits.

香港——中国的大银行正竭力和经济增长放缓、坏账增加、利润缩水作斗争。

So to raise more than $7 billion in the world’s largest new share sale in two years, a stodgy Chinese bank has sought a little help from its friends.

因此，为了通过两年来全世界规模最大的新股发行，募得逾70亿美元资金，一家古板的中国银行已经从朋友那里寻求了一点帮助。

The Postal Savings Bank of China, a sprawling state-owned lender that is one of the country’s biggest, priced shares on Wednesday for its initial public offering at $0.61 each, valuing the new shares at $7.4 billion, according to a person familiar with the offering who was not authorized to speak publicly about the pricing. The total proceeds make it the biggest single I.P.O. anywhere since 2014, when Alibaba’s $25 billion New York listing set the global record.

一位知情人士称，周三，中国最大的国有信贷机构之一中国邮政储蓄银行，将其首次公开募股的招股价定为每股0.61美元，所发行的股份价值74亿美元。该人士未被授权公开谈其定价。阿里巴巴于2014年赴纽约上市，以250亿美元的募资总额打破全球最大IPO的历史纪录，本次IPO是自那以后的全球单笔融资金额之最。

But only a fraction of those shares will be held by nongovernment investors, as Chinese state-run companies have already pledged to buy up most of them.

但其发行的新股只有一小部分会被非政府投资者持有，因为一些中国国有企业已经承诺认购绝大部分股票。

The big I.P.O. is shining a light on the practice, called cornerstone investing, of inviting big investors to buy up large chunks of shares before a company goes public. Though it is less common in other markets, it has been increasingly used by Chinese state firms going public in Hong Kong, where government-controlled companies purchase growing numbers of shares to ensure a smooth offering.

这项大型IPO让世人注意到了一种名为基石投资的做法，也就是在一家公司上市前，邀请大投资者认购大量股票。这种做法在其他市场上并不常见，但却受到了越来越多赴港上市的中国国企的青睐——为了确保IPO的顺利进行，受控于政府的企业在香港市场认购的股票日益增多。

Banks tend to go along with the practice because it helps get deals done, but it has come under criticism in the past because it can give plugged-in investors preferential access to new offerings.

一些银行倾向于采取这种做法，因为它有助于达成交易。但它在以往也饱受批评，因为会让有门路的投资者获得参与IPO的优先权。

Postal Savings Bank declined to comment.

邮政储蓄银行拒绝置评。

On the face of it, the I.P.O. recalls a period a decade ago, when an initial wave of offerings by China’s biggest state banks on overseas stock markets resulted in megalistings attracting eager investors among foreign funds and Wall Street banks.

从表面上看，这项IPO会让人想起10年前的那个年代。当时，中国大型国有银行赴海外证券市场公开募股的浪潮刚刚兴起，许多巨型IPO吸引了外国基金和华尔街银行的目光，让那些投资者充满渴望。

Optimism about China’s banks soared with the country’s double-digit economic growth rates, and lenders like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Bank of China surpassed traditional names like Citigroup and Bank of America to become the biggest banks in the world by market value.

中国两位数的经济增长率使得关于该国银行的乐观看法急剧升温，中国工商银行、中国建设银行、中国银行等信贷机构力压花旗集团(Citigroup)、美国银行(Bank of America)等老牌机构，成为全世界市值最大的银行。

That enthusiasm has been replaced by an increasing wariness of problems with China’s traditional growth model, which relied heavily on state-directed investment to support economic growth. That led to mountains of debt and rampant industrial overcapacity in areas like mining, steel making and other manufacturing businesses.

如今，那种乐观看法，已经被人们对中国传统增长模式所存问题的日益担忧所取代。中国严重依赖由政府引导的投资来支撑经济增长，导致债务堆积如山，采矿、炼钢等制造业领域的产能严重过剩。

Shares in China’s big banks now trade at less than the reported value of their assets — a signal that investors do not believe the banks’ books or that they expect more problem loans will crop up.

中国大型银行的股票目前已低于财报披露的资产价值——说明投资者并不相信这些银行的账册，或者认为会有更多不良贷款冒出头来。

With Postal Savings Bank, more than 75 percent of the shares in the bank’s I.P.O. were presold to so-called cornerstone investors, big buyers that get priority by promising not to sell their stakes for six months. All six cornerstone investors in the deal are entities affiliated with the Chinese government.

邮政储蓄银行通过此次IPO发行的股份，逾75%被预售给了所谓的基石投资者，也就是以六个月内不出售股票的承诺换取优先认购权的大买家。这项交易中的六个基石投资者全都是与中国政府有关联的实体。

That state support included about $2 billion from China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and investments from Shanghai’s main port operator, a regional airline operator and the country’s main power grid company.

国家提供的支持包括来自中国船舶重工集团的20亿美元资金，以及来自一家上海大型港口运营商、一家地区性航空运营商以及该国的主要电网公司的投资。

The postal bank I.P.O. comes amid a relative lull in big listings in Hong Kong. And the deals that have gone through have increasingly relied on cornerstones — a sign that underlying demand from retail or small investors may be lackluster.

邮政储蓄银行的IPO，是在香港市场大型IPO交易相对沉闷的情况下到来的。这些交易的进行越来越依赖基石投资者——说明来自零售投资者或者说小投资者的潜在需求颇为低迷。

For example, cornerstone investors accounted for nearly 80 percent of the shares offered in the June listing of CDB Leasing, a state-backed aircraft leasing company. Last month, Everbright Securities, a state-controlled brokerage, sold nearly 70 percent of its I.P.O. to cornerstones.

例如，国有飞机租赁企业国银租赁6月份赴港上市时，基石投资者认购了其所发股份的将近80%。上月赴港IPO的国有券商光大证券，把将近70%的所发股份售予基石投资者。

Last year, cornerstone investors accounted for a record 41 percent of all I.P.O.s in Hong Kong, according to figures from Dealogic, a financial data provider. The previous high was 36 percent in 2012, a difficult year for new listings.

来自金融数据供应商Dealogic的数字显示，去年，基石投资者的投资在香港IPO交易中所占比例创下了41%的新高。此前的最高为2012年的36％，那是新股发行颇为艰难的一年。

Cornerstones last year bought almost $14 billion worth of the $33.6 billion in shares sold through 49 new listings in the city, according to Dealogic.

Dealogic称，香港市场去年共达成49宗IPO交易，所发股份总价值为336亿美元，而基石投资者买下了将近140亿美元的股份。

The growing influence of cornerstones in Hong Kong has come under scrutiny, but so far regulators and lawmakers have taken a relatively hands-off approach.

基石投资者对香港市场与日俱增的影响力受到了密切关注，但到目前为止，监管机构和立法者采取的是相对而言不过多干预的政策。

In 2013, the city’s stock exchange cautioned underwriting banks against giving cornerstone investors preferential treatment or privileged access to information about a company’s business.

2013年，香港的证券交易所曾提醒经营IPO承销业务的银行，不要给予基石投资者优惠待遇，或者通过特殊渠道获取公司业务信息的权利。

A year later, the Financial Services Development Council, a government advisory body, proposed overhauls to the I.P.O. process and the effect that cornerstones have on deal pricing.

一年后，香港政府顾问机构金融发展局提议对IPO流程以及基石投资者对交易定价的影响进行检讨。

“One undesirable side effect of I.P.O. cornerstone investment is that it takes the pricing process further away from the normal market forces and may have a distortive effect on the company’s market value,” the council wrote in its recommendations.

“IPO基石投资的一个不良副作用是，它会让定价流程进一步脱离正常市场力量的掌控，还可能给公司市值带来扭曲效应，”金融发展局在建议中写道。

To date, Hong Kong regulators have not moved to limit cornerstone investing. A spokesman for the stock exchange said on Wednesday that it had researched the issue and “found no conclusive evidence that cornerstone investments narrow the shareholder base.” He added that after last year’s review, the listing committee “decided that no additional regulation is warranted at this stage.”

香港的监管机构至今尚未采取限制基石投资的举措。港交所发言人周三称，交易所已经研究过这个问题，“没有发现基石投资会缩小股东基础的结论性证据。”他还说，经过去年的检讨，上市委员会“得出的结论是，在此阶段没有必要进行额外的监管”。

Postal Savings Bank agreed to sell 12.1 billion shares at 4.76 Hong Kong dollars each, near the bottom of the market range. The offering was helped along by an unusually high number of underwriters — 26 banks in total worked on the deal.

邮政储蓄银行同意把121亿股H股的发行价定为4.76港元，接近招股区间的下限。帮助进行此次IPO的承销商多得异乎寻常——共有26家银行为这项交易服务。