Hours after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. kicked off the process for an IPO in New York, the head of the Hong Kong stock exchange, once the front-runner for the deal, urged regulators to allow changes of rules to accommodate new listings
就在电子商务巨头阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)启动纽约首次公开募股(IPO)程序后几个小时，香港交易及结算所有限公司(Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., 简称：香港交易所)行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)便敦促监管者们允许修改上市规定以适应新的交易。香港交易所曾经是阿里巴巴最可能上市的地点。
The loss of e-commerce giant Alibaba comes after months of gridlock at the exchange's owner, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. and its regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, over adapting rules to suit a proposal by Alibaba that partners in the company continue to nominate the majority of the board even after the company is listed. Such a structure, giving the founding partners control of the board, would violate Hong Kong's existing 'one shareholder, one vote' rules.
几个月前，香港交易所及其监管机构香港证券及期货事务监察委员会（简称：香港证监会）在是否根据阿里巴巴的提议调整上市规定方面陷入僵局。阿里巴巴提出在公司上市后其合伙人仍有权提名董事会多数成员，这一股权结构将赋予公司合伙创始人控制董事会的权利，违反了香港目前“同股同权”的规定。
While Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchange, defended the decision not to compromise over the demands of one company, he warned that unless rules are changed, the territory will lose out in the race to list companies that are proposing alternative shareholder structures. He didn't say how the rules ought to be changed, but argued that the process of reaching a consensus among market participants ought to begin.
尽管李小加对香港交易所不向单一公司所提要求妥协的决定加以辩护，但他也告诫说，除非修改相关规定，否则在争取要求采用其他股权结构上市的公司方面，香港将败下阵来。他并未说明规定应如何修改，但主张应当启动在市场人士中达成共识的程序。
'Insisting on your principle is never without cost,' Mr. Li said in an interview. 'But we have to continue to innovate and dare to have the courage to reform, have the courage to do what is right, and to the extent we need to make the changes to anything we will do it,' he said.
他在接受采访时说，坚持原则从来不会没有成本，但香港必须要继续创新，敢于改革，敢于做正确的事情，只要有必要，无论什么程度的变革都义无反顾。
Talks on a Hong Kong listing for Alibaba fell apart last September. Since then, Mr. Li has advocated for rule changes. The overhaul process has failed to get off the ground, and people involved appear divided about what rules need to be amended.
有关阿里巴巴在香港上市的谈判去年9月份破裂。从那时起，李小加就倡导修改上市规定。但修改程序未能启动，相关人士对于需修改哪些规定的看法似乎存在分歧。
Mr. Li said he expected Alibaba to choose New York. 'This is not a surprise,' he said. 'I'm glad they finally made a decision.'
李小加说，他预料到阿里巴巴会选择在纽约上市。他称，这并不意外。他很高兴阿里巴巴终于做出了决定。
The loss of Alibaba came as the exchange missed out on a wave of Chinese tech IPOs. Nine of the 10 biggest IPOs by Chinese Internet-related companies since 2009 have been in the U.S., according to data provider Dealogic. Under Mr. Li, the exchange has focused on commodities and derivatives and has continued to capture the lion's share of listings by mainland Chinese companies. It has several big IPOs in its pipeline.
香港交易所已错过了中国科技公司的一波IPO浪潮，阿里巴巴只是其中之一。据数据提供商Dealogic统计，2009年以来中国互联网公司十宗最大规模IPO中有九宗发生在美国。在李小加的领导下，香港交易所以大宗商品和衍生品为业务重点，同时继续吸引中国大量内地公司赴港上市。目前有几宗规模较大的IPO正等待在该交易所进行。
Some members of the committee charged with reviewing the exchange's rules say they favored accommodating Alibaba, but others say they felt that any changes would be seen as a weakening of the rule of law in the former British territory, which is part of China but retains its own legal system. The concern is that Hong Kong's status as a global financial center could be eroded by the perception that rules could be changed to suit a powerful player, in particular the Chinese government.
负责审核香港交易所规则的委员会中的几名成员说，他们赞成修改规则，接纳阿里巴巴上市。但其他成员说，他们感觉修改规则会被认为是对香港法治的削弱。香港曾为英国殖民地，现在是中国的一部分，但仍保留自己的法律制度。外界目前关切的是，香港作为全球金融中心的地位可能会受到这样一种看法的影响，即香港可为适应强有力的角色而改变规则，特别是当这个角色为中国政府的时候。
'A one-off waiver just because of Alibaba's status would send a pretty bad message regarding the rule of law,' said one person familiar with the regulator process. 'A more general regulatory change was never going to happen quickly.'
一名了解香港监管程序的人士表示，如果仅因为阿里巴巴的重要性就对它网开一面，那就会传递出一个不利于法治的糟糕信息。该人士称，较大规模的监管法规修改永远不会一蹴而就。
Other people involved in the regulatory process say that even if Alibaba and the stock exchange had reached an agreement, they wouldn't have been able to convince the SFC that listing rules need to be changed. 'They have not fallen foul of the stock exchange, they have fallen foul of the SFC,' another person familiar with the matter said of Alibaba.
其他一些熟悉香港监管程序的人士说，尽管阿里巴巴和香港交易所达成过一项协议，但也没法说动香港证监会，使其相信应修改上市规则。另一位知情人士在谈到阿里巴巴时称，该公司并没有和香港交易所不欢而散，而是和香港证监会闹得不愉快。
Alibaba expressed frustration at the rule-making process last fall. Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, the company co-founder who has been leading the IPO effort, said in a post on Alibaba's website that Hong Kong--which he called Alibaba's 'natural' first choice--must address 'whether it is ready to look forward as the rest of the world passes it by.'
阿里巴巴去年秋曾表达过对香港规则修改程序的失望。该公司联合创始人、董事局执行副主席、负责此次IPO事宜的蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)在阿里巴巴的网站上发文称，香港“自然”是阿里巴巴IPO的首选地。他说，香港必须处理好的问题是，是否要在被其它地方赶超后才准备向前迈进。
Alibaba has repeatedly said that it is determined to keep its partnership structure.
阿里巴巴已反复表示，决心坚持公司的合伙人制度。
In October, Alibaba received written confirmation from the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market that this sort of structure wouldn't be an obstacle for a U.S. listing.
去年10月，阿里巴巴收到了纽约证券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)和纳斯达克市场(Nasdaq Stock Market)的书面确认函。二者均表示，阿里巴巴的这种结构不会成为赴美上市的障碍。
'We respect the viewpoints and policies of Hong Kong and will continue to pay close attention to and support the process of innovation and development of Hong Kong,' Alibaba said in a statement Sunday.
阿里巴巴周日发表声明说：“我们尊重香港现时的相关政策和出发点，并将会一如既往地关注和支持香港的创新与发展。”
The SFC declined to comment.
香港证监会不予置评。
Mr. Li has also taken heat for the 2012 takeover of the London Metal Exchange for US$2.16 billion, a price some analysts said was too high. The business has continued to drag on profits as the exchange spends millions on improving its technology. The LME is also fighting class-action lawsuits over the amount of time it takes to have metal shipped out of warehouses licensed by the exchange.
李小加还曾因为香港交易所2012年斥资21.6亿美元收购伦敦金属交易所(London Metal Exchange, 简称LME)的交易而受到关注，分析师认为这个收购价格太高。该业务持续给香港交易所的利润带来拖累，主要因为改进LME技术的耗资达数百万。与此同时，LME还在面临集体诉讼，该诉讼与LME授权仓库的出货等候时间有关。
Still, targeting commodities trading will ultimately pay off, said Matthew Smith, an analyst at Macquarie Securities.
然而麦格理证券(Macquarie Securities)的分析师史密斯(Matthew Smith)说，瞄准商品交易最终是会取得成功的。
'Is it strategically wrong to try to embrace commodities when you are sitting on the doorstep of the world's key growth driver for commodities consumption? I would say no--strategically it makes sense,' he said.
他表示，当你处在全球商品消费关键增长引擎的大门口这个位置，从战略上看瞄准商品市场是错误的吗？我的答案是否定的，从战略上看，这是合理的。
The exchange's stock-listing business won't be hurt too badly by Alibaba's decision to go to New York. Fees from new listings account for about 15% of revenue, and a rush late last year--the fourth quarter was the busiest on record--helped deliver an 11% profit increase for 2013.
阿里巴巴决定赴纽约上市不会给香港交易所的股票上市业务带来太大负面影响。新股上市费用收入占该公司总收入的15%左右，去年底的上市潮――第四季度上市交易数量达到创纪录水平――帮助推动香港交易所的利润增长了11%。
But those listings were weighted toward Chinese banks seeking capital to shore up their balance sheets against expected losses, rather than fast-growing tech companies, which were gravitating toward New York. Analysts said the exchange will need to send signals that it is open to considering alternative proposals.
但这些上市的新股主要是寻求提振资产负债状况以抵御预期损失的中资银行，而非增长迅速的科技公司，后者受到纽约市场的吸引。分析师说，香港交易所将需要发出这样的信号，即对于考虑替代方案持开放态度。
'Clearly if this prevents other listings of its kind, then that could be a problem in future,' Marcus Liu, an analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, said of the Hong Kong exchange's listing rules.
里昂证券亚太区市场(CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets)的分析师Marcus Liu在谈到香港交易所的上市规定时说，显然如果其规定对其他此类公司的上市构成阻碍，那么这可能会在未来成为一个问题。
Hong Kong was the world's No. 2 IPO market in 2013, ranking behind the New York Stock Exchange, according to Dealogic, as it bouced back after slipping to fourth place in 2012. For the previous three years, it had ranked first.
据Dealogic的数据，2013年香港是全球第二大IPO市场，仅次于纽约证交所，从2012年第四的位置回升。在2012之前的三年，香港一直是全球第一大IPO市场。
The exchange has made a strong start in 2014 by attracting a number of high-profile new-share offerings. Coming up, WH Group, which under its former name Shuanghui International bought U.S. pork producer Smithfield last year, is set to raise US$5 billion in April. And the listing of tycoon Li Ka-shing's A.S. Watson & Co retail operation is expected to raise billions.
香港交易所在2014年强势开局，吸引了许多备受关注的新股上市交易。万州国际(WH Group)将于4月份通过在香港的IPO筹资50亿美元。万州国际此前名为双汇国际(Shuanghui International Holdings)，该公司在更名前于去年收购了美国猪肉生产商Smithfield。此外，预计香港大亨李嘉诚麾下的零售业务屈臣氏集团有限公司(A.S. Watson & Co)将通过香港IPO筹资数十亿美元。