Around two years ago, the Anbang Insurance Group, an insurer then little known outside of China, announced that it would buy the fabled Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion.

大约两年前，安邦保险集团宣布将斥资19.5亿美元，收购传奇性的华尔道夫-阿斯托里亚酒店(Waldorf Astoria)，那时，这家保险公司在中国境外还鲜为人知。

Now, the Chinese insurer hopes to expand its hotel empire with an unsolicited bid to acquire Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, the operator of the hotel brands Westin, W and Sheraton, for $76 a share in cash, or $12.8 billion in total.

现在，这家中国保险集团希望扩大其酒店帝国的规模，主动提出以每股76美元、总计128亿美元的价格，现金收购威斯汀(Westin)、W和喜来登(Sheraton)等酒店品牌的运营商喜达屋酒店及度假村国际集团(Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide)。

A consortium of investors, led by Anbang, is hoping to derail Starwood’s $10.8 billion cash-and-stock merger with Marriott International that is set to be considered by shareholders of both hotel operators this month.

一个由安邦牵头的投资者财团，试图来给万豪国际(Marriott International)与喜达屋的并购交易搅局。该交易金额为108亿美元，支付方式为现金加股票，定于本月由双方公司的股东进行考虑。

The other bidders in the competing consortium, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions, include J. Christopher Flowers’ buyout firm, J.C. Flowers Company, and the Primavera Capital Group, whose chairman, Fred Hu, is the former chairman of Goldman Sachs for China.

一名知情人士透露，在这个竞购喜达屋的财团中，包括J·克里斯多夫·弗拉沃斯(J. Christopher Flowers)的收购公司J.C. Flowers Company，以及春华资本集团(Primavera Capital Group)，其董事长胡祖六曾是高盛(Goldman Sachs)在中国的董事长。

The cash offer by Anbang and its investment partners is the latest in a wave of overseas deal-making by Chinese companies. So far this year, Chinese companies have announced $81.9 billion worth of foreign deals, compared with just $10.55 billion in the same period a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

安邦及其投资伙伴提出的现金收购，是中国企业这波境外交易中的最新一起。汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)的数据显示，今年以来，中国公司已经宣布了819亿美元的境外交易，而去年同期只有105.5亿美元。

Anbang’s pursuit of Starwood follows fast on the heels of reports that the Chinese company has agreed to acquire Strategic Hotels and Resorts from the Blackstone Group in a deal valued at $6.5 billion just months after Blackstone bought the company.

安邦寻求收购喜达屋之前，刚刚才传出了它达成协议将斥资65亿美元收购黑石集团(Blackstone Group)旗下战略酒店及度假村(Strategic Hotels and Resorts)的消息。黑石集团购入该酒店也才不过数月。

Strategic Hotels owns the Four Seasons hotels and resorts in Silicon Valley, Washington and Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Fairmont and Intercontinental hotels in Chicago and the JW Marriott Essex House hotel in Manhattan.

战略酒店拥有硅谷、华盛顿、怀俄明州杰克逊霍尔的四季酒店(Four Seasons)，芝加哥的费尔蒙(Fairmont)与洲际(Intercontinental)酒店，曼哈顿的JW万豪埃塞克斯之家酒店(JW Marriott Essex House Hotel)。

Anbang, led by its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, has been an aggressive deal maker in recent years. Mr. Wu is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, China’s former top leader who oversaw the opening of the Chinese economy to capitalism and investment from foreign companies.

最近几年来，在董事长吴小晖的带领下，安邦开展了一些大手笔的交易。吴小晖是邓小平的外孙女婿。担任中国最高领导人期间，邓小平主持了中国经济对资本主义和外商投资的开放。

In addition to its deal for Waldorf Astoria, Anbang, which is based in Beijing, has also bought an American insurer, Fidelity Guaranty Life Insurance, for nearly $1.6 billion, and a controlling stake in a South Korean life insurer. Last year, it also unsuccessfully offered to buy a Portuguese lender.

安邦总部设在北京，除了华尔道夫酒店的交易之外，它还斥资近16亿美元收购了美国信保人寿保险公司(Fidelity Guaranty Life Insurance Company)，并获得了一家韩国寿险公司的控股权。去年，它出价收购一家葡萄牙贷款机构，但未成功。

Anbang got its start as a car insurer supported in part by the SAIC Motor Corporation, China’s largest automaker. A decade ago, it was a small operator compared with China’s big state-owned insurance companies.

安邦最初是从汽车保险起家的，它得到了中国最大的汽车生产商上汽集团的支持。10年前，与中国的大型国有保险公司相比，它还是一家小企业。

But the company broadened its operations to sell investment products and other services and has increasingly made aggressive bets. It was helped by the Chinese government’s move in recent years to give Chinese insurers greater freedom to invest their money, making them major players in real estate and other areas in China.

但安邦扩大了业务范围，开始出售投资产品和其他一些服务，并且日益激进地押注一些项目。中国政府近年来放宽限制，允许境内保险公司更加自由地投资自己的资金，于是这些公司成了中国房地产等领域的主要参与者。

The consortium’s cash offer, which was made on March 10 and announced publicly by Starwood on Monday, represents a significant premium to Marriott’s deal, which has been affected by a decline in the hotel operator’s stock price since it was announced in November.

该财团的现金收购要约是在3月10日提出的，喜达屋本周一公布了此事。比起与万豪的交易，这是一个大幅溢价。自从去年11月宣布与万豪的交易以来，喜达屋的股价下跌，影响了这宗交易。

Starwood said on Monday that its board had not changed its recommendation in support of the Marriott deal, but that it would carefully consider the outcome of its discussions with the consortium led by Anbang to determine the course of action that is in the “best interest of Starwood and its stockholders.”

喜达屋周一表示，董事会没有改变支持万豪交易的建议，但会认真考虑与安邦牵头的财团之间讨论的结果，以便确定符合“喜达屋及其股东的最佳利益”的行动方向。

Starwood said that it had received a waiver from Marriott to allow it to engage in discussions and due diligence with the consortium. The waiver expires on Thursday.

喜达屋表示，它已收到了来自万豪的免责声明，使其能够开展与该财团的讨论并对其进行尽职调查。免责声明将于本周四到期。

Marriott described the rival takeover approach to Starwood as “highly conditional and nonbinding.”

万豪表示，这个竞争对手对喜达屋的收购方式“有很高的条件门槛，不具约束力”。

“Marriott will monitor this development as it and Starwood continue to work toward the closing of its transaction and the successful integration of the two companies,” Marriott said in a news release.

“万豪将一边关注这方面的发展，一边继续与喜达屋共同推动交易的完成，向两家公司的成功整合迈进，”万豪在新闻稿中表示。

Shareholders of Starwood and Marriott are set to vote on whether to approve the merger on March 28. Marriott would receive a termination fee of $400 million if Starwood were to back out of the deal.

喜达屋和万豪的股东定于3月28日投票，决定是否批准这宗并购。如果喜达屋退出交易，万豪将获得4亿美元的终止费。

The deal with Marriott would create the world’s largest hotel company, with more than 5,500 owned or franchised hotels, for a total of 1.1 million rooms around the world.

并购如果成功，它将成为全球最大的酒店集团，旗下有逾5500家直营或特许经营酒店，在世界各地共有110万个房间。

Based on the 20-day volume weighted average of Marriott’s stock, the merger would be valued at $63.74 a Starwood share, including a cash consideration of $2 a share, Starwood said on Monday.

喜达屋本周一表示，根据万豪股票20天成交量加权平均价，喜达屋在并购中的估值是每股63.74美元，包括每股2美元的现金对价。

Starwood shareholders would also receive $5.50 a share from the spinoff of its time-share business, Vistana Signature Experiences, and the business’s merger with a subsidiary of the Interval Leisure Group.

喜达屋的股东，也将从该集团的分时度假业务维斯塔纳专属体验(Vistana Signature Experiences)与分时度假集团(Interval Leisure Group)一个分公司的并购交易中，获得每股5.5美元的收益。

Anbang is widely seen as benefiting from good relations with leaders in Beijing.

安邦集团被普遍认为受益于它和北京领导层的良好关系。

Late last year, it also struck an alliance with China Vanke, a Chinese property developer in the middle of a rare corporate takeover battle. The deal, which Vanke said it welcomed, was widely seen as a friendly effort that allowed Vanke management to remain at the helm of the company, China’s largest property developer.

在去年末进行的一场罕见的企业股权争夺战中，安邦与中国地产商万科集团结成了联盟。万科欢迎安邦入股，它被广泛看作是一种友好的举措，能让万科管理层继续掌控这家中国最大的房地产开发公司。

It is not just Anbang that is increasingly looking abroad.

日益将目光投向海外的，不止安邦这一家公司。

China’s slowing economy has led companies and individuals to take money out of the country and invest it elsewhere. This turnabout from the days when China soaked up much of the world’s money flows has led investors to believe that China’s currency — already weakened in recent months after two sets of devaluations — could fall further. Foreign deals allow Chinese companies to move money abroad with the blessing of Chinese officials while avoiding potentially painful devaluations.

中国经济增速放缓，导致企业和个人都将资金移出海外，在别处进行投资。之前一直是全世界的资金大批流向中国，如今情况逆转，致使投资者相信，在最近几个月经历两轮贬值已经走弱的中国货币，还会进一步贬值。通过进行海外交易将资金转移到海外的做法，可以得到中国官方的首肯，同时也让中国企业避开了有可能带来麻烦的货币贬值。

Those dynamics help explain why Chinese companies are redoubling their efforts to invest abroad despite growing efforts by the Chinese government to keep money at home. China’s foreign currency reserves have fallen to $3.2 trillion in recent months, prompting Beijing to intensify its already tight limits on money flowing across its borders.

这种逻辑可以帮助我们理解，在中国政府不断加大举措将资金留在国内的情况下，中国企业为何却在加倍进行海外投资。中国的外汇储备在最近几个月减少到了32万亿美元。这促使北京进一步加强本已收紧的资金外流限制。

Still, major deals continue to be struck. In the biggest potential Chinese deal for a foreign company, the Swiss agribusiness Syngenta has agreed to be acquired by a state-owned Chinese chemical company, known as ChemChina, for $43 billion.

然而，大宗交易还在不断达成。瑞士农业综合企业先正达(Syngenta)接受了一家中国国有化工企业的收购要约，即由中国化工集团以430亿美元对它进行收购。这项交易有望成为中国公司规模最大的一宗海外收购。