Anbang Insurance, the highly acquisitive Chinese group, has been adding to its stake in China Vanke amid a rare public battle over corporate ownership at the nation’s biggest homebuilder by sales.

在一次罕见的对企业所有权的公开争夺中，热衷于四处收购的中国集团安邦保险(Anbang Insurance)，一直在增持万科集团(China Vanke)的股份。目前，万科是中国销售额最高的住宅开发商。

The Chinese insurer, which bought the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95bn last year and failed in a recent bid to buy Portuguese lender Novo Banco, increased its stake in China Vanke from 4.5 per cent to 7 per cent over the last three weeks, according to regulatory filings in Hong Kong.

安邦保险去年曾斥资19.5亿美元收购纽约华尔道夫酒店(Waldorf Astoria hotel)，最近还曾试图竞购葡萄牙的Novo Banco银行，不过未能取得成功。根据香港监管机构的文件，这家中国保险公司在过去三周内将手中持有的万科股份从4.5%提升至7%。

Anbang’s move adds to the intrigue surrounding China Vanke, after the chairman of the company attacked stakebuilding by a lesser-known insurance and property group called Baoneng.

在此之前，万科董事长王石曾谴责过一家企业增持万科股份的行为。这家企业名叫宝能(Baoneng)，是一家不那么知名的保险和房地产集团。而安邦的举动，则为围绕万科股权的争夺战增添了变数。

Wang Shi, the charismatic, mountain-climbing founder of China Vanke, said the acquisition of a more than 20 per cent stake by companies linked to the Baoneng group “could ruin China Vanke’s greatest asset”, which he said was “trust in the company’s brand”.

王石是万科集团的创始人，富有领袖魅力，喜爱登山。他说，“宝能系”公司收购逾20%的万科股份“可能毁掉万科最为值钱的东西”，这种最值钱的东西据他说是“万科的品牌信用”。

Baoneng, which is controlled by another tycoon, Yao Zhenhua, hit back saying that it was law-abiding, had contributed “huge value” to society and its clients, and believed in “the power of the market”.

目前，宝能由一位名为姚振华的富豪控股。对于王石的言论，宝能回应称该集团恪守法律，为社会和客户创造了“巨大价值”，并相信“市场的力量”。

Shenzhen-listed shares of China Vanke have jumped by nearly 70 per cent over the past month, giving it a market capitalisation of around $40bn, as the Baoneng-linked entities overtook state-owned China Resources group to become the developer’s biggest shareholder.

在宝能系机构超过国有的华润(China Resources)成为万科最大股东的同时，万科在深圳上市的股票价格在过去一个月里已跃升近70%，令该集团市值达到400亿美元左右。

China Vanke asked for trading in its shares to be suspended on Friday and on Sunday it said it was working on a “material asset restructuring”, which some analysts speculate could be designed to dilute Baoneng’s holding.

周五，万科曾要求将其股票停牌。周日，该集团表示正在筹划“重大资产重组事项”。部分分析师猜测，这一重组计划或旨在稀释宝能股权。

While mergers and acquisitions are on the rise in China, executives rarely fight for corporate control in the public arena, preferring to secure approvals from officials behind the scenes before acting.

尽管中国并购现象正在不断增加，企业的高管很少会公开争夺企业的控股权，他们宁愿在行动前通过幕后争取获得官方的批准。

“Generally Beijing frowns on public displays of confrontation in the markets,” said Andrew Collier of Orient Capital, an equity research house in Hong Kong. “This is new and significant because we’re seeing a very visible and well-respected company that now seems to be in play.”

香港股权研究机构Orient Capital的安德鲁科利尔(Andrew Collier)表示：“通常，中国政府不愿看到公开展示市场中的对峙现象。这种事件从未发生过，也很有意义，因为我们在这次事件中看见，一家不可忽视而又备受推崇的企业正被卷入混战。”

China’s property sector has come under increasing stress in the past couple of years as the economic slowdown has hit developers with large debts and those in smaller cities particularly hard.

过去两年内，由于经济放缓已令开发商背上沉重债务，中国的房地产业面临的压力日益升高，而较小城市的开发商处境尤为艰难。

As well as being the largest, analysts view China Vanke as one of the country’s best developers in terms of the quality of its projects and its relatively strong financing position.

在分析师眼中，万科除了是最大的开发商，以项目品质和相对强势的融资地位来说，它还是中国最好的房地产开发商之一。

“The credit position of Vanke is very solid,” said Kaven Tsang, an analyst at Moody’s, the credit rating agency. “Its sales performance has been strong this year... it has managed a low debt leverage.”

信用评级机构穆迪(Moody's)分析师曾启贤(Kaven Tsang)表示：“万科的信用状况非常坚挺。今年其销售业绩始终很强……而且该公司也成功保持了低债务杠杆。”

Baoneng affiliate Shenzhen Jushenghua has disclosed that it borrowed money to fund part of the acquisition of the China Vanke shares and analysts have questioned whether it would have the financial firepower to take over the company, even if it could secure approval to do so.

宝能系公司深圳钜盛华(Jushenghua)已经披露，该公司曾借入资本，以便为收购万科股份提供部分资金。多名分析师质疑，即便该公司能够得到相关许可，该公司是否会有足够的财力收购万科股份。

Mr Collier of Orient Capital said that despite the war of words, it was not clear if the stakebuilding was driven by commercial or political motives and that it was therefore uncertain how the dispute would turn out.

科利尔表示，尽管双方出现了口头上的交锋，目前仍不清楚这次入股是否存在商业目的或政治目的，这次争端的结果如何也因此难以确定。

After criticism of his opposition to Baoneng’s equity purchase, Mr Wang, who is a patron of the World Wildlife Fund and has studied at the universities of Cambridge and Harvard, took to social media on Monday night to clarify his position.

王石是世界自然基金会(World Wildlife Fund)的赞助商，曾在剑桥大学(University of Cambridge)和哈佛大学(University of Harvard)进修。在反对宝能的股权收购遭遇批评之后，周一晚上王石在社交媒体上澄清了他的立场。

“An enterprise is a group of people who are bound together by philosophy,” he wrote on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. “If the corporate philosophy changes, it would be a disaster. That’s just a matter of fact, not a value judgment.”

他在新浪微博(Weibo)上写道：“企业是通过价值观聚集起来的一群人，企业价值观如果发生突变将是一场灾难。这只是一个简单事实，而并非价值判断。”