Better Than Goldman? ABrazilian star heads to market

　　比高盛還好?巴西投行業明星即將上市

　　The announcement on March 1st that BTG Pactualplans an initial public offering came afterweeks of speculation. Andr Esteves, the Brazilianinvestment bank s chief executive, had said beforethat an IPO was a matter of when, not if. A privatedeal in late 2010 with sovereign-wealth funds andrich families, including the Agnellis and theRothschilds , had brought in $1.8 billion inreturn for 18% of the firm. But BTG has spent at least $1.5 billion on a series of takeovers inthe past five months, eating up capital. The most recent deal, a cash-and-shares purchaseof Celfin Capital, a Chilean brokerage, implied a valuation of $14.8 billion. The moment tolist, it seemed, had arrived.

　　3月1日，巴西百達發表聲明稱公司計劃進行首次公開發行。此前數周里，人們一直在猜測百達要上市的傳聞。這家巴西投行的CEO安德魯艾斯泰維斯曾說過，IPO并非是否要做，而是何時做的問題。百達在2010年末曾向一些主權財富基金和幾個財勢雄厚的家族非公開發行了18%的股份，募得18億美元。投資者中包括了阿涅利家族和羅斯柴爾德家族。在過去的5個月里，百達展開了一系列收購活動，花費了了至少 15億美元的資本。不久前，百達以現金加股票的方式買下了一家智利的投資經紀公司Celfin Capital，這筆交易暗示了百達的市值應該有148億美元。上市之日看起來似乎是指日可待了。

　　With more cash, BTG will be able to continue its shopping spree without overstretch, applaudsCeres Lisboa of Moody s, a ratings agency. And Brazil could do with its own investment bank:global players such as UBS and Credit Suisse have been active there for some time but havepulled back because of the financial crisis. BTG has advantages right now, says Ms Lisboa, because it has Brazil expertise and a relative lack of global exposure.

　　評級機構穆迪投資者服務公司的克瑞斯里斯本看好百達的這次上市。他認為，擁有更多的現金后，百達便能輕松地繼續它的狂歡式收購之旅。而且巴西也需要自己的投行：瑞銀集團和瑞士信貸這樣的全球性投行一度活躍于巴西市場，但金融危機后它們相繼撤離。百達現在的處境非常有利里斯本說，它在巴西市場上有著豐富的經驗，同時較少受到全球金融風險的影響。

　　Mr Esteves s story is not quite rags to riches but is still impressive. He joined Banco Pactualin 1989 as a systems analyst, worked his way to the top and sold the bank to UBS in 2006 for$3.1 billion. Three years later his new fund, BTG , bought it back from the cash-strappedSwiss bank for $2.5 billion. The Celfin deal implies a price many times thatand, according toS?o Paulo gossip, three times the bank s book value.

　　艾斯泰維斯并非白手起家，但他的成長經歷仍然令人印象深刻。他在1989年加入Banco Pactual銀行，成為一名計算機系統分析員，爾后一路升遷至公司最高層。2006年，他作價31億美元將銀行賣給了瑞銀集團。三年后，他新成立的基金公司BTG又以25億美元的對價將Banco Pactual從當時急缺資金的瑞銀集團手中買了回來。圣保羅路邊社傳言，對Celfin的收購交易意味著百達的市凈率高達3倍。

　　Talk of such multiples makes level-headed types nervous. Three times the value of assetsminus liabilities is what Goldman Sachs listed at in 1999; it now trades below book value. ItaUnibanco, Brazil s biggest private bank, trades at a bit over twice book value; BTG s return onequity is little more than at Ita, although, at 25%, it is still eye-wateringly high byrich-world standards. But the bank is neither dragged down by the rich world s slump norattached, like its local rivals, to a big, staid retail arm, says Oliver Leyland of Mirae AssetGlobal Investments. These guys have sold hundreds of deals; I m sure they can sellthemselves.

　　談起這一倍數，不少沉著冷靜的人士都開始緊張起來。高盛在1999年上市的時候，市值也是股東權益的三倍;如今它的市值已經低于賬面價值了。巴西最大的私有銀行伊塔烏聯合銀行的市值略高于其賬面價值的兩倍;百達的凈資產收益率是25%，盡管只比伊塔烏要高上一點，但以富裕國家的標準來看算得上極高。百達既沒有受到富裕國家經濟衰退的拖累，也沒有像它巴西本土的對手們那樣依賴于一個臃腫保守的經紀零售部門，未來資產環球投資有限公司的奧利弗利蘭如此評價道。這些家伙已經做了幾百筆上市的買賣了，我很有把握他們也能把自己給推銷出去。

　　The prospectus, when it appears, will be scrutinised not only for growth prospects andstrategysome of the cash is expected to be spent in Asia to capitalise on links between thatregion and Latin Americabut also for reassurances regarding minority rights. BTG plans tooffer non-voting shares as well as voting ones, a route few Brazilian firms have taken inrecent years. The partners clearly have an eye to future offerings and the importance of maintaining control, says Ricardo Almeida ofInsper, a S?o Paulo business school.

　　人們需要在招股說明書發布后做仔細的檢查，不僅要查看增長前景和戰略部分一些資金將會投向亞洲市場，從該地區與拉丁美洲的經濟聯系中獲益還要關注報告中關于保證少數股東權利的部分。百達準備發行無投票權和有投票權的兩種股票，這種做法在近年來的巴西市場上少有公司為之。圣保羅市Insper商學院的里卡多阿爾梅達說，百達的合伙人們顯然對即將出售的股份規模以及維持公司控制權的重要性有著清醒的認識。

　　BTG s listing will also be watched for signs of a revival in Brazil s moribund IPO market. In2006 and 2007 companies listed at frothy prices almost weekly, but the most recent IPO waslast July, since when a dozen or so planned deals have been postponed or dropped asrisk-averse foreign buyers hang on to cash and sellers hold out for higher prices. The sense ofurgency is now palpable, says Paulo Sergio Dortas of Ernst Young, an accountingfirm: companies know they cannot keep growing without cash. At least 40 are thought to beready to list if the mood changes. Few will have a story to match BTG sand as Brazil sbiggest dealmaker, it will stand ready to profit when they finally do follow suit.

　　此次百達上市也可視作是巴西停滯不前的IPO市場開始復蘇的跡象。2006至2007年間，幾乎每周都有公司以虛高的發行價上市。但自去年7月份最后一起IPO以來，大約有十二家左右的公司推遲或者放棄了IPO，原因是厭惡風險的外國買家暫停了購買，與此同時賣方則堅持非高價不出售。安永會計師事務所的保羅塞爾吉奧多塔斯說，現在人們終于感覺到緊迫性了：沒有資金，公司難以發展。至少有40家公司被認為已做好了上市的準備，只待市場轉好。百達的經歷不可復制作為巴西最大的證券交易商，它時刻準備從那些緊隨它之后上市的公司身上獲利。

　　Better Than Goldman? ABrazilian star heads to market

　　比高盛還好?巴西投行業明星即將上市

　　The announcement on March 1st that BTG Pactualplans an initial public offering came afterweeks of speculation. Andr Esteves, the Brazilianinvestment bank s chief executive, had said beforethat an IPO was a matter of when, not if. A privatedeal in late 2010 with sovereign-wealth funds andrich families, including the Agnellis and theRothschilds , had brought in $1.8 billion inreturn for 18% of the firm. But BTG has spent at least $1.5 billion on a series of takeovers inthe past five months, eating up capital. The most recent deal, a cash-and-shares purchaseof Celfin Capital, a Chilean brokerage, implied a valuation of $14.8 billion. The moment tolist, it seemed, had arrived.

　　3月1日，巴西百達發表聲明稱公司計劃進行首次公開發行。此前數周里，人們一直在猜測百達要上市的傳聞。這家巴西投行的CEO安德魯艾斯泰維斯曾說過，IPO并非是否要做，而是何時做的問題。百達在2010年末曾向一些主權財富基金和幾個財勢雄厚的家族非公開發行了18%的股份，募得18億美元。投資者中包括了阿涅利家族和羅斯柴爾德家族。在過去的5個月里，百達展開了一系列收購活動，花費了了至少 15億美元的資本。不久前，百達以現金加股票的方式買下了一家智利的投資經紀公司Celfin Capital，這筆交易暗示了百達的市值應該有148億美元。上市之日看起來似乎是指日可待了。

　　With more cash, BTG will be able to continue its shopping spree without overstretch, applaudsCeres Lisboa of Moody s, a ratings agency. And Brazil could do with its own investment bank:global players such as UBS and Credit Suisse have been active there for some time but havepulled back because of the financial crisis. BTG has advantages right now, says Ms Lisboa, because it has Brazil expertise and a relative lack of global exposure.

　　評級機構穆迪投資者服務公司的克瑞斯里斯本看好百達的這次上市。他認為，擁有更多的現金后，百達便能輕松地繼續它的狂歡式收購之旅。而且巴西也需要自己的投行：瑞銀集團和瑞士信貸這樣的全球性投行一度活躍于巴西市場，但金融危機后它們相繼撤離。百達現在的處境非常有利里斯本說，它在巴西市場上有著豐富的經驗，同時較少受到全球金融風險的影響。

　　Mr Esteves s story is not quite rags to riches but is still impressive. He joined Banco Pactualin 1989 as a systems analyst, worked his way to the top and sold the bank to UBS in 2006 for$3.1 billion. Three years later his new fund, BTG , bought it back from the cash-strappedSwiss bank for $2.5 billion. The Celfin deal implies a price many times thatand, according toS?o Paulo gossip, three times the bank s book value.

　　艾斯泰維斯并非白手起家，但他的成長經歷仍然令人印象深刻。他在1989年加入Banco Pactual銀行，成為一名計算機系統分析員，爾后一路升遷至公司最高層。2006年，他作價31億美元將銀行賣給了瑞銀集團。三年后，他新成立的基金公司BTG又以25億美元的對價將Banco Pactual從當時急缺資金的瑞銀集團手中買了回來。圣保羅路邊社傳言，對Celfin的收購交易意味著百達的市凈率高達3倍。

　　Talk of such multiples makes level-headed types nervous. Three times the value of assetsminus liabilities is what Goldman Sachs listed at in 1999; it now trades below book value. ItaUnibanco, Brazil s biggest private bank, trades at a bit over twice book value; BTG s return onequity is little more than at Ita, although, at 25%, it is still eye-wateringly high byrich-world standards. But the bank is neither dragged down by the rich world s slump norattached, like its local rivals, to a big, staid retail arm, says Oliver Leyland of Mirae AssetGlobal Investments. These guys have sold hundreds of deals; I m sure they can sellthemselves.

　　談起這一倍數，不少沉著冷靜的人士都開始緊張起來。高盛在1999年上市的時候，市值也是股東權益的三倍;如今它的市值已經低于賬面價值了。巴西最大的私有銀行伊塔烏聯合銀行的市值略高于其賬面價值的兩倍;百達的凈資產收益率是25%，盡管只比伊塔烏要高上一點，但以富裕國家的標準來看算得上極高。百達既沒有受到富裕國家經濟衰退的拖累，也沒有像它巴西本土的對手們那樣依賴于一個臃腫保守的經紀零售部門，未來資產環球投資有限公司的奧利弗利蘭如此評價道。這些家伙已經做了幾百筆上市的買賣了，我很有把握他們也能把自己給推銷出去。

　　The prospectus, when it appears, will be scrutinised not only for growth prospects andstrategysome of the cash is expected to be spent in Asia to capitalise on links between thatregion and Latin Americabut also for reassurances regarding minority rights. BTG plans tooffer non-voting shares as well as voting ones, a route few Brazilian firms have taken inrecent years. The partners clearly have an eye to future offerings and the importance of maintaining control, says Ricardo Almeida ofInsper, a S?o Paulo business school.

　　人們需要在招股說明書發布后做仔細的檢查，不僅要查看增長前景和戰略部分一些資金將會投向亞洲市場，從該地區與拉丁美洲的經濟聯系中獲益還要關注報告中關于保證少數股東權利的部分。百達準備發行無投票權和有投票權的兩種股票，這種做法在近年來的巴西市場上少有公司為之。圣保羅市Insper商學院的里卡多阿爾梅達說，百達的合伙人們顯然對即將出售的股份規模以及維持公司控制權的重要性有著清醒的認識。

　　BTG s listing will also be watched for signs of a revival in Brazil s moribund IPO market. In2006 and 2007 companies listed at frothy prices almost weekly, but the most recent IPO waslast July, since when a dozen or so planned deals have been postponed or dropped asrisk-averse foreign buyers hang on to cash and sellers hold out for higher prices. The sense ofurgency is now palpable, says Paulo Sergio Dortas of Ernst Young, an accountingfirm: companies know they cannot keep growing without cash. At least 40 are thought to beready to list if the mood changes. Few will have a story to match BTG sand as Brazil sbiggest dealmaker, it will stand ready to profit when they finally do follow suit.

　　此次百達上市也可視作是巴西停滯不前的IPO市場開始復蘇的跡象。2006至2007年間，幾乎每周都有公司以虛高的發行價上市。但自去年7月份最后一起IPO以來，大約有十二家左右的公司推遲或者放棄了IPO，原因是厭惡風險的外國買家暫停了購買，與此同時賣方則堅持非高價不出售。安永會計師事務所的保羅塞爾吉奧多塔斯說，現在人們終于感覺到緊迫性了：沒有資金，公司難以發展。至少有40家公司被認為已做好了上市的準備，只待市場轉好。百達的經歷不可復制作為巴西最大的證券交易商，它時刻準備從那些緊隨它之后上市的公司身上獲利。