富士康将遭遇股东发难 鸿海精密被质问

Hon Hai Precision, the Apple supplier also known as Foxconn, faces a rare challenge at its AGM today from a group of global institutional investors over its corporate governance.

鸿海精密(Hon Hai Precision)将在今日的年度股东大会上遭遇罕见挑战，全球机构投资者将质问这家又名富士康(Foxconn)的苹果(Apple)供应商的公司治理事务。

The intervention from a group including Aviva, Axa and Calstrs is one of the first of its size and scale in Asia, and represents wider hopes for greater engagement between shareholders and executives in the region.

这些机构投资者包括英杰华(Aviva)、安盛(Axa)和加州教师养老基金(CalSTRS)，它们发起的这种大规模干预是亚洲迄今少见的，并代表着一种广泛的期盼，即亚洲的股东和高管之间能够增加接触。

Governments and regulators have begun trying to shake up the often supine relationships between investors and management. Earlier this year, Japan brought in a new stewardship code and yesterday confirmed plans for corporate governance reforms. Malaysia will this week become only the second Asian country to introduce stewardship guidelines.

政府和监管机构已开始试图撼动投资者与管理层之间往往偏于懒散的关系。日本在今年早些时候出台了一套新的管理法规，并在昨日证实了开展公司治理改革的计划。马来西亚将在本周成为亚洲第二个出台管理指导原则的国家。

The investors are expected to challenge Hon Hai over issues including transparency, long-term strategy, board composition and the “key man” risk posed by chairman Terry Gou.

预计投资者将在各种问题上向鸿海精密发起质问，包括透明度、长期战略、董事会的组成，以及董事长郭台铭(Terry Gou)构成的“关键人物”风险。

Mr Gou founded Hon Hai 40 years ago with a $7,500 loan from his mother. Hon Hai is now China’s biggest private employer, with about 1m workers. It also makes the majority of Apple’s iPhones and iPads.

郭台铭在40年前用母亲借给他的7500美元创立了鸿海精密。鸿海目前是中国最大的私营部门雇主，有100万左右工人。该公司为苹果代工制造大部分的iPhone和iPad。

But the shareholders’ attempt to engage with Hon Hai comes as the world’s largest contract manufacturer faces questions over its future direction as it tries to fend off competitors while coping with rising labour costs in China – still its manufacturing centre.

但在股东试图与鸿海接触之际，全球最大的代工制造商正面临有关其未来发展方向的问题。目前该公司正努力抵挡竞争对手，同时应对中国大陆劳动力成本上升问题；中国大陆仍是它的制造基地。

Two members of the investor group will attend today’s annual general meeting and plan to ask whether the company can provide more clarity on its long-term business plan, whether its board has the skills to cope and to probe its succession plans for Mr Gou, its founder, chairman, chief executive and largest shareholder.

上述投资者群体的两名成员将出席今日的年度股东大会，并计划提出多个问题，包括该公司能否提供更清晰的长期业务计划？其董事会是否有能力应对并考察关于郭台铭退位后的接班计划？郭台铭是该公司的创始人、董事长、首席执行官和最大股东。

Hon Hai declined to comment.

鸿海精密拒绝发表评论。

Other members of the shareholder group include MN and PGGM, the Dutch pension funds, RailPen, the UK pension fund, Robeco, the Dutch fund manager and the UK Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

这个股东群体的其它成员包括荷兰养老基金MN和PGGM；英国养老基金RailPen；荷兰基金管理公司荷宝(Robeco)；以及英国高校退休基金(USS)。

“Not every investor has the resources to engage effectively with companies far away from home,” said Hans-Christoph Hirt, Singapore-based executive director for responsible investment and stewardship at Hermes Equity Ownership Services, and one of the attendees.

“不是每个投资者都有充足资源，能与远离本土的公司有效接触，”Hermes Equity Ownership Services负责投资及管理事务的执行总监汉斯-克里斯托夫•希尔特(Hans-Christoph Hirt)表示。他是会议出席者之一。

“Companies need to change but so do investors. Effective stewardship requires more people on the ground in Asia to build relationships and engage with companies.”

“公司需要改变，但投资者也需要改变。有效管理意味着需要在亚洲的第一线投入更多人力，以构建关系，与企业接触。”

This week Hon Hai and Pegatron, a rival Taiwanese assembler of Apple products, both said they were recruiting workers – thought to be related to production of the next round of Apple products.

本周鸿海和同样为苹果装配产品的台资竞争对手和硕(Pegatron)均称，他们正在招工。据信此举与生产苹果下一代产品有关。

Last year, Hon Hai was one of six bidders to win a 4G telecoms licence in Taiwan in a clear sign of its plans to diversify its business.

去年，鸿海成为赢得台湾4G电信运营牌照的六个竞标者之一，这是一个明确迹象，说明该公司计划将业务多元化。