必和必拓计划剥离约130亿美元资产

BHP Billiton, the world’s most vAluable miner, is to break itself up via a stock market spin-off, signalling an end to years of deals and expansion driven by the commodities boom.

世界上最具价值的矿商——必和必拓(BHP Billiton)，即将通过股市剥离进行拆分，这标志着由大宗商品繁荣驱动的多年交易和扩张热潮走到终点。

Heeding investor calls for resources groups to improve returns amid weaker commodities markets, BHP set out plans to improve its performance by demerging its less profitable mines and processing plants.

为响应投资者要求资源企业在大宗商品市场较为疲弱的时期改善回报，必和必拓推出了改善业绩的计划，方法是将盈利较差的矿山和冶炼厂剥离出去。

The spin-off of a new company, with an estimated value of about $13bn, will unwind a large part of the 2001 merger between BHP and Billiton, a landmark mining deal that heralded more tie-ups in the sector and years of China-led growth in commodities markets.

2001年，BHP和Billiton合并，创下矿业的一笔地标性交易，并带来了更多矿业合并案，以及由中国引领的大宗商品市场的多年增长。在当年那笔合并案中合并的相当大一部分资产，本次将被打包为一家估值约为130亿美元的新公司，从必和必拓剥离出去。

BHP and its rivals spent much of the next decade scrambling to acquire assets to satisfy China’s seemingly insatiable hunger for metals such as iron ore and ­copper. However, since 2012 a generation of deals-driven leaders – including Tom Albanese at Rio Tinto and Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American – has been forced out amid disappointment at poor investments and huge cost blowouts.

2001年那笔合并案之后的近十年里，必和必拓及其竞争对手争相收购资产，以满足中国对铁矿石和铜等金属貌似永无止境的需求。然而，投资失败和严重超支现象屡屡出现，引发投资者不满，自2012年起，在收购热潮中崛起的一代矿商领袖纷纷被迫离职，其中包括力拓(Rio Tinto)的艾博年(Tom Albanese)以及英美资源公司(Anglo American)的辛西娅•卡罗尔(Cynthia Carroll)。

Marius Kloppers – who as BHP’s chief executive tried to buy Rio, its closest rival – also left last year.

曾尝试收购力拓（与必和必拓实力最接近的竞争对手）的必和必拓前首席执行官高瑞思(Marius Kloppers)，去年也离职了。

BHP’s demerger plans, unveiled yesterday by Andrew Mackenzie, Mr Kloppers’ successor, underscore the changing mood in mining over the past 18 months as new chief executives have promised more careful investments and better returns.

昨日由高瑞思的继任者安德鲁•麦肯齐(Andrew Mackenzie)宣布的这项分拆计划，凸显出过去一年半以来矿产行业氛围的变化。必和必拓的新任首席执行官承诺要更加谨慎地对待投资，并提高回报率。

But the Anglo-Australian group disappointed investors by failing to put forward plans to return cash, with Mr Mackenzie admitting a share buyback had been blown off course this year by weaker commodities markets, particularly in iron ore.

但这家在英国和澳大利亚同时上市的企业未能拿出向投资者返还现金的方案，这让投资者失望。麦肯齐承认，大宗商品市场（尤其是铁矿石市场）比预计的更为疲弱，导致股票回购未能按计划进行。

“Even though we have done a great job in terms of generating a lot of extra cash through increasing productivity and reducing capital, that has not been quite enough to compensate for the significant reduction in prices,” he said.

他说：“尽管我们努力通过提高生产率和减少资本金，创造了大量额外资金，但仍难以弥补价格的显著下跌。”

“We are not quite there yet in terms of what we thought the balance sheet would need to look like . . . to start a new form of capital management that we felt we could endure for years.”

“我们仍未能让资产负债表达到我们理想的状态，在这种理想的状态下，我们能开启一种在我们看来能持续多年的新型资本管理。”

BHP shares fell nearly 5 per cent in London as investors digested the miner’s plan to use exchanges in Australia and South Africa to list the company holding the demerged assets. The spin-off is expected to be completed next year.

必和必拓打算将剥离出去的资产组成的新公司在澳大利亚和南非的交易所上市，这一消息传出后，其股价在伦敦下跌近5%。剥离操作预计将于明年完成。

The proposal will mean some UK investors with no mandate to hold non-UK stocks will have to sell the new group’s shares when it lists. “We think small Billiton shareholders could get cashed out with the company buying their shares,” said one London-based trader.

必和必拓的资产剥离方案意味着，当新公司上市时，一些无法持有非英国股票的英国投资者将被迫出售那家新公司的股票。伦敦的一名交易员说：“我们认为，公司会从必和必拓的小股东手中回购股票，让股东得到现金。”

Mr Mackenzie said BHP – which has a dual listing in Australia and the UK – had to treat all investors equally. “We are giving them all exactly the same assets,” he said.

麦肯齐说，必和必拓（在澳大利亚和英国两地上市）必须公平对待所有投资者。他说：“我们会给他们完全同样的资产。”