When Marriott International swooped in last November to trump a smaller rival’s offer for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the last-minute upset was set to create the world’s largest hotel company by rooms.

去年11月，万豪国际(Marriott International)发动奇袭，一举打败另一个规模较小的竞争对手，与喜达屋酒店及度假村集团(Starwood Hotels & Resorts)达成收购协议。这最后一刻的翻盘在当时看将会创造以客房数量计全球最大的酒店企业。

But if a group led by Chinese insurer Anbang has its way, those plans will not only unravel but also establish a new challenger in the global lodging industry with ambitions to grow rapidly through acquisitions.

但如果中国保险集团安邦(Anbang)领衔的财团获得成功，不仅会瓦解万豪的上述计划，还将在全球酒店业确立一个新的挑战者，而其抱负是通过收购实现快速增长。

On Monday, Starwood revealed it had begun talks with an unnamed group — later confirmed as a consortium led by Anbang — that has offered almost $13bn for the owner of the Sheraton, W Hotels and St Regis chains.

周一，喜达屋宣布已与一个匿名财团展开谈判，随后证实是安邦牵头的财团。该财团向这家拥有喜来登(Sheraton)、W酒店(W Hotels)、瑞吉(St Regis)等品牌的酒店业巨头发出了近130亿美元的收购要约。

The all-cash bid from the Chinese group is worth $76 a share, Starwood said, adding that it remained committed to its already agreed deal with Marriott. However, the US company noted the value of Marriott’s cash-and-stock offer had fallen to $63.74, driven by a decline in that company’s stock price since November.

喜达屋表示，中国财团的全现金报价相当于每股76美元，该公司同时表示仍致力于此前与万豪已商定的协议。但这家美国公司指出，受去年11月以来万豪股价下跌影响，万豪提出的现金加股票的报价价值已下降到每股63.74美元。

For Anbang, which started as a regional car insurance business in China 12 years ago, a Starwood takeover would be the climax of a rapid transformation into a diversified investment group. Over the past 18 months, Anbang has spent more than $23bn — without counting its offer for Starwood — to accumulate a sprawling list of global assets that span financial services, real estate and lodging.

12年前从一家中国地区性汽车保险公司起步的安邦，如果能够成功收购喜达屋，其向多元化投资集团的快速转型将达到高潮。过去一年半里，不含对喜达屋的报价，安邦已投入逾230亿美元，积攒了一张横跨金融服务、房地产和酒店业的庞杂的全球资产名单。

Led by Wu Xiaohui, its politically connected chairman, Anbang has used the income from its growing insurance business to fund its overseas ambitions. The company had assets worth more than Rmb800bn ($123bn) as of February last year.

在具有政治人脉的董事长吴小晖的带领下，安邦用不断增长的保险业务带来的收入，为其海外抱负提供资金。截至去年2月，这家公司资产价值已超8000亿元人民币（合1230亿美元）。

Mr Wu is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, China’s former leader and the architect of the country’s transition out of a planned economy, and Anbang has an opaque ownership structure that includes associations with other prominent families. The company has also demonstrated what The Economist has called an “unusually good” ability to navigate China’s complex bureaucracy.

吴小晖的妻子是中国前领导人、改革开放总设计师邓小平的外孙女。安邦的所有权结构不透明，该公司可能与其他显赫家族也有联系。在与中国复杂的官僚机构打交道方面，这家公司也展现出被《经济学人》(The Economist)称为“异常出色”的能力。

Analysts have questioned the company’s aggressive approach to M&A, saying Anbang risks undermining the profitability of its core business as it gambles on high-risk investments in other areas.

分析师对这家公司激进的并购策略提出质疑，称安邦将赌注押在其他领域的高风险投资上，有削弱其核心业务盈利能力的风险。

Growth expectations are being fuelled by China’s low rate of insurance penetration, giving providers room to catch up with western peers. Premiums were only 3 per cent of China’s gross domestic product in 2014, compared with 7 per cent in the US and 11 per cent in Japan, according to Swiss Re.

中国的保险普及率较低，这支撑了安邦的增长预期，因为这为保险供应商提供了追赶西方同行的空间。根据瑞士再保险公司(Swiss Re)的数据，2014年中国的保费仅为国内生产总值(GDP)的3%，而美国为7%，日本为11%。

However, in China’s life insurance market, Anbang is dwarfed by listed rivals China Life and Ping An, with a market share of just 4 per cent.

不过在中国的寿险市场，与中国人寿(China Life)和中国平安(Ping An)这两家上市竞争对手比起来，安邦相形见绌，市场份额仅有4%。

To help manage its buying spree, the company has hired a handful of experienced investment bankers — following a pattern among Chinese companies with an appetite for overseas assets, including Alibaba and Fosun. By bringing talent in-house, several Chinese groups have been able to avoid using global investment banks for many of their deals.

为帮助自己管理好这场收购盛宴，安邦已效仿阿里巴巴(Alibaba)、复星(Fosun)等对海外资产感兴趣的中国企业，聘请了一批经验丰富的投资银行家。通过引进人才到公司内部，一些中国集团已经可以在许多收购交易上不必借助全球投资银行。

As it has grown, the company’s connections have extended beyond its network in China. One of those has been with US alternative asset manager Blackstone, a relationship that has proved critical to Anbang’s expansion into lodging.

随着公司的不断壮大，安邦的关系网已经延伸到中国境外。其中就包括与美国另类资产管理公司黑石集团(Blackstone)建立的联系，事实证明，这一关系对安邦进军酒店业至关重要。

In late 2014, Blackstone sold New York’s landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel to Anbang for nearly $2bn and just this weekend agreed a $6.5bn sale of 16 prime US hotels to the Chinese group.

2014年末，黑石将纽约地标华尔道夫酒店（Waldorf Astoria，见文首图）以近20亿美元出售给安邦，并在上周末同意以65亿美元向这家中资集团出售在美国拥有16家豪华酒店的Strategic Hotels & Resorts。

After the Waldorf deal, Mr Wu appeared at Harvard University to declare his “win-win” approach to business between the US and China. He also highlighted his budding friendship with Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chairman and chief executive, as well as Jonathan Gray, its head of real estate.

收购华尔道夫酒店之后，吴小晖现身哈佛大学(Harvard University)，阐述了自己关于中美商业合作的“双赢”策略。他同时还强调了自己与黑石董事长兼首席执行官苏世民(Stephen Schwarzman)以及该集团房地产业务负责人乔纳森•格雷(Jonathan Gray)之间不断升温的友谊。

In that 2015 speech, Mr Wu said of Mr Gray: “Our relationship developed gradually from negotiation counterparties to close friends. I trust him deeply because he keeps his word. He is like a cheque book. As soon as a cheque is written, you can count on cashing it, and he doesn’t waste any time.”

在2015年的这次演讲中，吴小晖谈到格雷时说：“我跟他从谈判对手变成了朋友，我非常信任他，他讲话算数。我觉得他是做人、说话像支票一样开了就算数，不浪费时间。”

Mr Wu was also not wasting any time by immediately setting his sights on Starwood. A regulatory filing on the company’s deal with Marriott reveals that an overseas company, identified as Anbang by a person familiar with the matter, made an non-binding offer to acquire Starwood last year. The original approach lacked any financing details, this person said, and Starwood’s executives were very concerned about Anbang’s ability to close the deal. Those concerns persist today, explaining Starwood’s decision to restate its support for Marriott’s offer on Monday.

吴小晖也没有浪费任何时间，在收购华尔道夫酒店之后，他马上将目标对准了喜达屋。喜达屋与万豪的协议在监管机构的备案文件显示，一家海外公司（一名知情人士确认为安邦）去年向喜达屋发出了非约束性收购要约。该知情人士表示，最开始的要约缺乏任何融资细节，而喜达屋的高管非常担忧安邦完成此项交易的能力。如今，这些担忧仍未打消，这可以解释为什么喜达屋周一做出了重申支持万豪收购的决定。

This time, however, Anbang has enlisted support from investors including China’s Primavera Capital and JC Flowers & Co, the private equity outfit of US billionaire J Christopher Flowers.

然而，安邦此次争取到了多家投资机构的支持，包括中国的春华资本(Primavera Capital)以及美国亿万富翁J•克里斯托弗•弗劳尔斯(J Christopher Flowers)旗下的私人股本机构JC Flowers & Co。

Mr Wu is now going head-to-head for Starwood with Marriott, a company deeply connected to America’s business establishment. If he succeeds, it will mark China’s biggest upset ever in a foreign takeover battle.

如今，为了争夺喜达屋，吴小晖正与万豪展开激烈竞争，而后者在美国商界人脉颇深。如果吴小晖能成功，这将标志着中国海外收购战中最大的一场翻盘。