When G-Resources announced plans last November to sell its main asset, a highly profitable gold mine responsible for more than 99 per cent of its revenues, there was only minor public stirring. Behind the scenes, however, investors soon began expressing concern. This week that disquiet broke into the open with BlackRock’s first criticism of an investment in at least two decades.

去年11月，当国际资源集团(G-Resources)宣布出售其主要资产的计划时，仅在公众当中引发了细微反响。其主要资产是一个利润丰厚的金矿，该矿营收占到集团总营收的逾99%。但在公众视线以外，投资者们很快就开始表达关切。本周，随着贝莱德(BlackRock)在至少20年里第一次批评自己的一项投资，这种忧虑公开化了。

Investors fear the Hong Kong-listed group, which has changed names and businesses several times since it went public as a packaging manufacturer in 1994, is about to reduce itself to a shell without, as yet, the expertise to pursue its stated plans of investing in financial services.

投资者担心，这家香港上市集团将沦为一家壳公司，与此同时，它还尚不具备必需的专业技能去执行其宣布的投资于金融服务业的计划。自从1994年以包装生产商身份上市以来，国际资源集团已多次变更过公司名称和经营范围。

Assuming G-Resource’s sale of the Martabe mine is approved, it will have about $1bn of cash to spend.

假如国际资源集团出售Martabe矿的计划获得批准，那么该公司将拥有约10亿美元的现金可供支出。

BlackRock’s unusually public blast comes as regulators and investors alike are worrying that listed cash shells in Hong Kong are becoming the latest vehicles for an ongoing problem: the use of backdoor listings to circumvent the rigours of a full public offering. And Chinese companies, starved of funding on the mainland, are the driver.

贝莱德发出非同寻常的公开批评之际，监管机构和投资者都在担心，香港的上市现金壳公司正在成为一个持续存在的问题的最新工具，这个问题是，借壳上市以避开新上市申请人受到的种种严格限制。在内地无法融资的中国企业，正是该问题的症结所在。

“Backdoor listings are happening because of the situation in China, where there is a huge need for finance but entities are unable to tap into the capital market,” says Stephen Taylor, chair of the Hong Kong Exchange’s Listing Committee, which oversees listing applications and issues with already-listed groups.

“正是由于中国内地的状况，所以出现了借壳上市现象。在中国内地，企业的融资需求十分旺盛，但无法进入资本市场，”香港交易所(HKEx)上市委员会主席斯蒂芬•泰勒(Stephen Taylor)说。他负责处理上市申请，以及已上市公司的各种问题。

China’s initial public offerings were abruptly halted last summer as part of Beijing’s efforts to curb the mainland market plunge. The listing process was restarted in November, but hundreds of companies are already in the queue.

为了抑制股市暴跌，中国当局在去年夏季突然暂停了首次公开发行(IPO)。去年11月，IPO重新启动，但排队中的公司已有数百家之多。

Acquiring a listed company gives the buyer instant access to a funding platform as well as the credibility of a listing.

收购上市公司之后，收购方可以立即获得融资平台，以及上市带来的可信度。

“A Hong Kong listing is something you can take to a bank to help with getting loans, or even to business partners in, say, Europe or US and say ‘here I am, a respectable listed group, do business with me’. So it’s got real value,” says one equity specialist banker.

“在香港上市是可以帮你获得银行贷款的事情；你甚至还可以告诉比如说欧美的商业伙伴，跟他们说，‘你瞧，我是一家值得尊敬的上市公司，跟我做生意吧’。所以，香港上市公司的身份具有真正的价值，”一名专门从事股权业务的银行业人士表示。

When the Listing Committee tightened rules on straightforward reverse takeovers in 2014, the number of cases before the Listing Committee plunged. Since then, interest appears to be shifting to cash companies.

2014年，当港交所上市委员会收紧有关直接反向收购的规则，提交至该委员会审核的案件数量直线下降。自那时以来，借壳者的兴趣似乎转向了现金型公司。

According to Mr Taylor, in 2013 the Listing Committee saw five cash injection cases. That jumped to 13 in 2014 and 25 in the first seven months of last year.

根据泰勒的说法，2013年，有5起资金注入案呈交上市委员会。2014年，这个数字大增到13起，去年头7个月增加到25起。

The deals can be structured in a number of ways. Listed shells can be bought, then assets injected, or they can sell their main business and use the proceeds to acquire assets to move in an entirely new direction.

交易的构建有多种方式。可以收购上市壳公司，然后向其注入资产；或者上市公司可以卖掉自己的主要业务，用所获资金收购资产，把业务转向一个全新的方向。

Other entities could receive a cash injection by issuing new shares to a particular investor who as a result gains control. The funds can then be used to buy new assets that marginalise the original business.

还有一些公司可以向特定的投资者发行新股，获得现金注入，同时该投资者获得控股权。接下来，公司可以用所获资金收购新资产，边缘化原有业务。

“The easiest way of stopping this would be to stop the demand, but Hong Kong can’t do that alone. What we’re trying to do, in the current situation, is use the tools available to us,” says Mr Taylor.

“阻止该局面的最简单办法是止住需求，但这单靠香港自己办不到。在当前形势下，我们正在努力做的是用好可用的工具，”泰勒表示。

The rise in cash injections prompted the HKEX to warn late last year that cash companies — those whose assets are substantially of cash — that buy new businesses could be treated as new listing applicants and forced into that more onerous procedure. New main board listings are required to show three years of profits and find at least 300 investors, among other rules.

由于资金注入案的增多，港交所在去年末警告称，现金型公司——指主要资产是现金的公司——收购新业务，可能被按照新上市申请人来对待，必须走更困难的上市流程。除了要满足其他规则外，新申请在主板上市的公司，还须具备三年盈利记录，并且股东至少要有300名。

That some would-be listed groups want to avoid this is clear: the price of a listed shell can reach HK$600m ($77m), observers say. An initial public offering for a company raising that same amount would cost perhaps HK$20m.

某些打算上市的公司希望避免上述规定，这是显而易见的：观察人士表示，一家上市壳公司的价格可能会达到6亿港元（约合7700万美元）。一家公司若通过IPO融资这个数目，其成本可能达到2000万港元。

The problem for the exchange is balancing its principles approach with the fact that businesses can, and do, change direction.

港交所的问题，是在其原则方法和企业可能、并且的确会改变方向的事实之间找到平衡。

“One reason for people to apply for listing here is that it’s a free market and they can do what they want. We don’t want to see a lot of backdoor listings but companies do mergers and acquisitions all the time,” says Jonathan Hsui, a partner at Ashurst, the law firm.

“人们来香港申请上市的一个原因是，这是一个自由市场，他们可以做自己想做的事情。我们不想看到大量的借壳上市，但公司并购的确时时刻刻都在发生，”亚司特律所(Ashurst)的合伙人许智豪(Jonathan Hsui)表示。

Meanwhile, shareholders in G-Resources will vote on the Martabe sale next Tuesday.

另一方面，国际资源集团的股东将在下周二对出售Martabe一事进行投票。

“Our main concern is around how the funds raised from the sale will be used,” says Pru Bennett, head of BlackRock’s investment stewardship team in Asia. “If you’ve launched yourself as a gold mining company then if the board thinks it’s appropriate to change the business, it’s something they should put to shareholders.”

“我们主要关心的是，出售获得的资金将会如何使用，”贝莱德亚洲投资管理团队主管布鲁•本内特(Pru Bennett)表示，“如果你当初上市时是一家金矿企业，那么，如果董事会认为改变业务是合适的，他们应该将此事交由股东们决定。”

G-Resources did not respond to a request for comment. On Monday the company said it believed its proposals were in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

国际资源集团没有回复记者的置评请求。该公司周一表示，其相信自己的计划对公司和公司股东而言是最有利的。