Just months after resigning, the former head of the embattled Chinese property developer, the Kaisa Group, returned unexpectedly to the helm, raising doubts about whether the company’s rescue by a rival will move forward.
辞职仅数月后，身陷困境的中国房地产开发商佳兆业集团前掌门人出人意料地再次掌权。这让人们怀疑，竞争对手对该公司的救助是否会继续。
The surprise comeback on Monday of the chairman and chief executive, Guo Yingcheng, is the latest twist in the Kaisa story.
董事会主席、执行董事郭英成周一的回归，是佳兆业这个故事的最新转折。

Once a darling of global investors, Kaisa started to stumble last fall, after the government blocked the sale of some of its properties in Shenzhen, its largest market. The company’s stock sank and its bonds plummeted, as analysts raised concerns about its debt load and finances.
佳兆业曾是全球投资者的宠儿，深圳则是其最大市场。但去年秋天，在政府阻止了其在深圳的部分房地产项目的销售后，佳兆业开始出现问题。随着分析人士提出对其债务负担和财务状况的担忧，该公司股价暴跌，债券大幅贬值。
Late last year, Mr. Guo departed, citing health reasons, and other top executives left soon after. Then in February, the chairman and his family agreed to sell their entire 49 percent stake in Kaisa to another Chinese property developer, Sunac China.
去年年底，郭英成以健康原因为由离开佳兆业。不久后，其他一些高层管理人员也纷纷离职。到了今年2月，郭英成及其家族同意将49%的佳兆业股份，全部出售给中国另一家房地产开发商融创中国。
Now, that deal is in question. Analysts said that the management announcement could be a sign that Mr. Guo was seeking to regain control of the company that he co-founded with family members in 1999.
如今，这笔交易生出了变数。分析人士称，管理团队变更的公告可能象征着，郭英成正在寻求重新获得对公司的控制权。郭英成同家族成员一起，于1999年创立了该公司。
“The conditions are unclear,” said Edison Bian, a property analyst at UOB Kay Hian. “For now, we can only conclude that there are more uncertainties. Whether Sunac is out of Kaisa remains unclear.”
“情况尚不明朗，”大华继显(UOB Kay Hian)的房地产业分析师边源(Edison Bian)说。“目前，我们只能推断，不确定性更多了。融创会不会放手佳兆业尚不清楚。”
Kaisa offered no further details on Monday about the change. But Mr. Guo is returning as Kaisa’s prospects show signs of stabilizing.
周一当天，佳兆业未就此番变动给出进一步的细节。但郭英成此次回归之际，正值佳兆业的前景显露出日渐稳定的迹象。
Just days ago, the company said that Shenzhen authorities had lifted some of the sales restrictions. And the company recently agreed to borrow roughly $225 million from Sino-Life Insurance, one of its largest shareholders.
就在几天前，该公司称深圳当局取消了部分销售限制。而且前不久，该公司同意从最大的股东之一生命人寿保险股份有限公司借资13.77亿人民币。
On Monday, prices of the company’s bonds, which have continued trading, rose slightly after the announcement.
其债券一直都在交易中。周一，公告发布后，该公司的债券价格小幅上涨。
“The return of the chairman is a positive development for the company,” said Franco Leung, a Hong Kong-based analyst at the credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service. “He has a good understanding of the company’s strategy and its operations.”
“对公司来说，董事会主席的回归是一个积极的发展，”信用评级机构穆迪投资者服务公司(Moody’s Investors Service)驻香港的分析师梁镇邦(Franco Leung)说。“他很了解公司的战略和业务。”
Sunac declined on Monday to comment on the return of Mr. Guo. Kaisa declined to comment further.
周一当天，融创拒绝就郭英成的回归发表评论。佳兆业也拒绝进一步置评。
Mr. Guo, 50, has been at the center of the firestorm at Kaisa.
在佳兆业的风暴中，50岁的郭英成一直处在中心位置。
After the sales restrictions were imposed last fall, reports surfaced that Kaisa’s property deals were the subject of a corruption investigation. Kaisa’s chairman, the reports indicated, was being questioned in the case.
去年秋天销售遭到限制后，一些报道浮出了水面，称佳兆业的房地产交易是一场腐败调查的对象。报道指出，佳兆业的董事会主席正在接受调查。
Bloomberg News has reported that Kaisa’s problems were linked to Jiang Zunyu, a high-ranking Communist Party official in Shenzhen who was detained last October on suspicion of corruption. Mr. Jiang was later found to have 42 homes and $32 million in unexplained cash.
彭博新闻社(Bloomberg News)报道称，佳兆业的问题和深圳高官蒋尊玉有关。蒋尊玉于去年10月因涉嫌腐败被羁押，后被查明拥有42套房产，以及超过2亿元来源不明的现金。
Kaisa’s situation soon began to deteriorate. From December to March, Mr. Guo and virtually his entire management team resigned with little explanation.
那之后不久，佳兆业的状况就开始恶化。从去年12月到今年3月，郭英成和他的几乎整个管理团队相继辞职，鲜有解释。
In February, the company reported that it had $10.4 billion in debt, far more than it had previously acknowledged in public filings. The company said on March 31 that it would delay the release of its quarterly earnings report. Struggling to meets its obligations, Kaisa is trying to restructure its debt with bondholders, which include big Western investors like BlackRock.
今年2月，佳兆业通报称负债104亿美元，远超其之前在公开文件中承认的水平。该公司在3月31日表示，将推迟发布季度收益报告。无力履行义务的佳兆业，正视图与包括贝莱德(BlackRock)等西方大投资者在内的债券持有者一起，对债务进行重组。
Since resigning, Mr. Guo, who goes by the Hong Kong name Kwok Yingshing, has disappeared from public view. Several analysts and lawyers had said that Mr. Guo was living in Hong Kong, which is a separate legal jurisdiction from China, and that he had refused to return to the mainland to face the company’s legal troubles.
辞职后，郭英成从公众视线中消失了。几名分析人士和律师表示郭英成生活在香港，并称他不愿回大陆面对公司在法律上的问题。香港的司法管辖权独立于中国大陆。
Analysts say Mr. Guo’s return makes it unclear who is in control of the company: the Guo family, which still holds 49 percent; Sunac, which is vying to acquire that stake; or Sino-Life, the second-largest shareholder.
分析人士称，郭英成的回归让谁掌控着该公司这个问题变得扑朔迷离：是依然持股49%的郭氏家族，还是正在极力收购那49%的股份的融创，亦或是该公司的第二大股东生命人寿。
Sino-Life has been playing an increasingly instrumental role. When the crisis began to unfold last year, Sino-Life stepped in and purchased a sizable chunk of shares from the Guo family.
生命人寿扮演的角色越来越重要。当这场危机在去年开始显现时，生命人寿便介入其中，并从郭氏家族手中购买了相当大一部分股份。
The insurer has only further cemented its ties with Mr. Guo in recent months. Earlier this year, Sino-Life and its chairman quietly bought shares that Mr. Guo and Kaisa affiliates owned in National Trust, a Beijing-based company that was once partly controlled by the relatives of the former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
最近几个月，这家保险公司更是进一步巩固了与郭英成的关系。今年早些时候，生命人寿及其董事长悄悄买下了郭英成和佳兆业的子公司在国民信托的股份。国民信托是一家北京公司，一度被前总理温家宝的亲属部分控制。
A spokesman for National Trust denied last month that Mr. Guo and the Kaisa affiliates had held a big stake in the company. But corporate shareholder records show the stakes were acquired in late 2014 and then sold to Sino-Life early this year.
上月，国民信托的发言人否认郭英成和佳兆业的附属公司持有该公司的大量股份。但企业股东记录显示，相关股份在2014年年底购得，后在今年年初被出售给了生命人寿。
With the recent loan from Sino-Life, Kaisa can also move forward with its development plans. The money will help Kaisa pay for a land deal in Shenzhen, an acquisition made jointly with Sino-Life.
有了最近从生命人寿获得的贷款，佳兆业还能推进自己的开发计划。这笔钱将帮助佳兆业为深圳的一笔土地交易付款。那是佳兆业与生命人寿联合达成的一项收购交易。
Analysts say the deals with Sino-Life add to the evidence that Mr. Guo might be moving to regain control of the company and brand he helped create.
分析人士称，与生命人寿的交易进一步证明，郭英成可能正在采取行动，以期重新获得对自己参与创立的公司和品牌的控制权。
“The return of Guo Yingcheng suggests the Guo family might not sell stakes to Sunac,” said Zhou Chuanyi, a credit analyst at Lucror Analytics, an independent credit research firm in Singapore.
“郭英成的回归表明，郭氏家族可能不会把股份卖给融创，”新加坡独立信贷研究机构Lucror Analytics的信贷分析师周传一（音）说。