New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office has blocked HNA Group from taking over a New Zealand finance company, the latest setback to befall the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate.
新西兰海外投资办公室(Overseas Investment Office)已阻止海航集团(HNA Group)收购新西兰一家金融公司，这是该收购意识较强的中国企业遇到的最新挫折。
The office said on Thursday it declined HNA’s proposed NZ$660m ($460m) takeover of UDC Finance, a unit of ANZ Bank, because it could not verify who controlled the airlines-to-finance group, which is based in southern China.
该办公室周四表示已拒绝海航提出的6.6亿新西兰元（合4.6亿美元）收购澳新银行(ANZ Bank)子公司UDC Finance的计划，理由是该办公室无法核实这家位于中国南方，业务覆盖了航空、金融等领域的集团由谁控制。
“The information provided about ownership and control interests was not sufficient or adequate for the OIO to determine who the relevant overseas persons are for [HNA’s] application to acquire UDC,” said Lisa Barrett, the office’s deputy chief executive for policy and overseas investment.
该办公室负责政策和海外投资的副主任丽莎?巴雷特(Lisa Barrett)表示：“其所提供的有关所有权和控制权益的信息不够充分，不足以让海外投资办公室确认（海航）申请收购UDC的相关海外人士是何许人。”
“We were therefore not satisfied that the investor test in section 18 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 was met.”
“因此我们并不满意其通过了《2005海外投资法》(Overseas Investment Act 2005)第18条的投资者测试。”
HNA said the office’s decision seemed “largely driven by negative media headlines” and not by the facts provided by HNA.
海航表示该办公室的决定似乎“主要是受媒体负面报道带动”，而不是基于海航提供的事实。
“We are disappointed by the OIO’s decision and find it inconsistent with the views of other regulators around the world that have recently issued approvals to HNA and other Chinese investors,” said an HNA spokesperson. “The current political environment in New Zealand relative to foreign investment will play a significant role in our determination of next steps.”
海航发言人表示：“我们对新西兰海外投资办公室的决定感到失望，并发觉它与全球其他监管机构观点相悖，那些机构近期向海航及中国投资者发放了批准。新西兰有关外国投资者的当前政治环境将在我们下一步决策中扮演关键角色。”
The decision marks the first rejection of a deal by the regulator under the new Labour-led coalition of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Analysts said it followed clear signals from the government that it would take a tougher approach to overseas takeovers than the previous administration, particularly on approaches from China.
这一决定标志着在新西兰总理杰辛达?阿德恩(Jacinda Ardern)带领的由工党(Labour)领导的新联盟统治下，监管机构第一次拒绝了海外收购交易。分析人士表示这遵循了该政府的明确信号，即它将对海外收购采取比上届政府更严厉的方式，特别是来自中国的邀约。

ANZ’s sale of UDC was announced in January as part of the bank’s effort to complete A$3 billion ($2.3bn) of disposals, mostly in Asia. ANZ, which on Monday said it would buy back A$1.5bn of shares following a series of divestments of non-core businesses this year, said the OIO decision would have “no impact” on that buyback. It said it did not know if HNA would appeal against the decision.
今年1月，澳新银行宣布出售UDC，这是该行完成30亿澳元（合23亿美元）出售努力——主要集中在亚洲——的一部分。澳新银行周一表示，在今年剥离一系列非核心业务之后，它将回购15亿澳元的股票。该行表示海外投资办公室的这一决定对此次回购“没有任何影响”。它表示不清楚海航是否会对这一决定提出上诉。
This month the Ardern government issued a directive to the Overseas Investment Office, which introduced hurdles for foreign companies buying rural land. Further changes to the overseas investment rules are expected to be announced next year.
本月阿德恩政府向海外投资办公室作出指示，给外国企业收购农地增加了障碍。关于海外投资规则的进一步变化预计将于明年宣布。