Yuan Yafei may be one of China’s richest men, but before his bid for House of Fraser, few in his own country had heard much about him.
袁亚非或许是中国最富有的人之一，但在竞购House of Fraser之前，他在自己的祖国鲜为人知。
The 49-year-old entrepreneur served as a local government official in Nanjing, the former Chinese capital, from 1988 to 1993, before founding Sanpower Group, which controls Nanjing Xinjiekou, one of China’s oldest department stores.
1988年至1993年，这位现年49岁的企业家曾是中国故都南京的一名地方政府官员。后来，他创建了三胞集团(Sanpower Group)，该集团控股着中国老牌百货商店——南京新街口百货。

Sanpower, which according to its website has more than 100 subsidiaries and employs 60,000 people across a range of industries, including retail, technology and real estate with assets worth almost $5bn, is not a major player in China.
三胞集团网站显示，集团旗下拥有超过100家独资或控股企业，员工总数超过6万人，经营范围横跨零售、科技、房地产等一系列行业，资产价值近50亿美元。但该集团在中国算不上什么名头特别响的企业。
Chinese media has not written much about Mr Yuan. And two senior Hong Kong-based executives involved in the Chinese real estate market told the Financial Times last week that they had never heard of Sanpower.
中国媒体对袁亚非报道不多。两名驻香港的涉足中国房地产市场的资深高管上周向英国《金融时报》表示，他们从未听说过三胞集团。
Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report which ranks Mr Yuan as the joint 92nd wealthiest person in China, said the tycoon has stayed under the radar as he quietly builds his business.
胡润百富榜(Hurun Report)创始人胡润(Rupert Hoogewerf)表示，袁亚非一直在悄悄地拓展自己的业务，没有引起太多的关注。在胡润百富榜上，袁亚非与他人并列第92位。
“He has been quite an important entrepreneur,” Mr Hoogewerf said. “He is one of those entrepreneurs who has been around but has never courted the media.”
“他一直是位相当重要的企业家。”胡润说，“他是那种资历很深、但从不讨好媒体的企业家。”
A retired foreign diplomat described Mr Yuan, who speaks little English, as “very forthcoming, very open” and said he was a “bright leader” who had amassed an impressive collection of Chinese art, which is housed in his office in Nanjing.
一名已退休的外国外交官称，不会说多少英语的袁亚非“非常坦率、非常直爽”，是位“聪明的企业领导人”，他在自己位于南京的办公室里收藏了许多中国艺术品，令人印象深刻。
Another person said Mr Yuan was a “classic Chinese entrepreneur”, a very self-confident man who employed a Chinese hierarchical management style and was very involved in all the details of his businesses.
另一名人士称，袁亚非是“典型的中国企业家”，非常自信，奉行的是中式管理风格，讲究层级，对各类业务事必躬亲。
He said Mr Yuan was also similar to other Chinese entrepreneurs who put a lot of emphasis on growth, and are expanding rapidly across many industries.
他表示，袁亚非像其他中国企业家一样，非常重视增长，眼下正在许多行业迅速扩张。
“They are flying to the moon,” the person said. [Will they get there?] No, but they will have a great ride.”
“他们正在‘奔向月亮’。”这名人士说。“（他们会到达目的地吗？）不会，但他们会做一个很大的跳跃。”
Along with many Chinese tycoons, Mr Yuan is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the main advisory body to the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp parliament.
与中国许多企业大亨一样，袁亚非也是中国政协委员。政协是向中国橡皮图章式国会——全国人大——提供建议的主要机构。
Following the announcement of the House of Fraser deal on Friday, Chinese media group 21st Century Business Herald said Mr Yuan had privately told people that the negotiations had gone through a number of twists and turns over several months because some of the shareholders were “conservative”.
在上周五有关House of Fraser交易的消息传出之后，中国报纸《21世纪经济报道》称，袁亚非在私下谈论时说，个别股东观念“保守”，令（这几个月的）交易过程一波三折。
“The situation was really stressful at the time. Whenever I got unfavourable news, I could barely sleep for 20 hours,” the media outlet cited Mr Yuan as saying.
该报援引袁亚非的话称：“当时情况很紧张。传来不利的消息后，我连续20多个小时没合过眼。”