海航因收购失败在美国面临诉讼

HNA Group is facing a lawsuit in the US over a failed acquisition, with its takeover target alleging the Chinese conglomerate intentionally gave false information to US authorities and disguised its true ownership structure.

海航集团(HNA Group)因收购失败在美国面临诉讼，其收购目标声称这家中国综合企业集团有意向美国当局提供了虚假信息，掩盖了其真实所有权结构。

US-based software group Ness Technologies filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York against HNA and its Beijing-based IT outsourcing unit Pactera, claiming the Chinese companies caused it material damage by not living up to their agreement.

总部位于美国的软件集团Ness Technologies在纽约州最高法院(Supreme Court of the State of New York)向海航及其总部位于北京的IT外包公司文思海辉(Pactera)提起诉讼，声称这两家中国公司不履行协议，由此对其造成实质性损害。

Pactera agreed in March to buy Ness’s digital engineering entity, Jersey Holding, for $325m. The Chinese-owned group said regulatory approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, the watchdog that reviews inbound investment for national security risks, was a condition for closing the deal, according to the lawsuit.

今年3月，文思海辉同意以3.25亿美元格收购Ness的数字工程实体Jersey Holding。根据诉状，这家中资集团当时表示，获得负责审查对美投资国家安全风险的监督机构——美国外国投资委员会(CFIUS)的批准，是完成这笔交易的一个条件。

Ness alleges in the complaint that Pactera and HNA assured it the deal would easily gain approval and agreed to use their “reasonable best efforts” to do so. But following the initial transaction agreement, HNA allegedly “poisoned and prejudiced the Cfius review process”, the complaint says, leading to the deal’s eventual collapse.

Ness在诉状中声称，文思海辉和海航当时向其保证，这笔交易将很容易获得批准，并同意付出“合理的最大努力”来做到这一点。但是，诉状称，在最初的交易协议达成后，海航被指“毒化和蓄意破坏CFIUS审查过程”，导致这笔交易最终泡汤。

Ness did not have a break-fee agreement with HNA and is seeking $65m in damages.

当初未与海航签订分手费协议的Ness，寻求6500万美元的损害赔偿金。

The lawsuit is the latest blow for HNA in the wake of a more than $40bn global buying streak in which the Hainan-based company snapped up stakes in Deutsche Bank and Hilton Worldwide.

这起诉讼是海航受到的最新打击。此前这家总部位于中国海南岛的公司在全球进行了400多亿美元的资产收购，获得了德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)和希尔顿全球(Hilton Worldwide)的可观股份。

In recent weeks HNA has faced difficulties related to its opaque shareholdings, as well as concerns over its access to liquidity and ability to finance acquisitions.

近几周，海航面临种种困难，涉及其不透明的股权结构，以及围绕其流动性渠道和能不能为收购买单的担忧。

Last month the Swiss takeover panel said HNA had provided false information when it purchased air-services company Gategroup last year for SFr1.4bn ($1.4bn). Citing a Financial Times article, the panel homed in on declared holdings of two shareholders and called information the company provided “untrue or incomplete”.

上月，瑞士并购委员会(Swiss Takeover Panel)表示，海航去年以14亿瑞士法郎（合14亿美元）收购航空服务公司佳美集团(Gategroup)时，提供了虚假信息。瑞士并购委员会援引英国《金融时报》的相关报道，聚焦于两名股东的持股情况，称海航当时提供的信息“不真实或不完整”。

The Ness complaint alleges considerable wrongdoing on the part of HNA. It says HNA and Pactera “provided demonstrably and knowingly false, inconsistent, and misleading information to Cfius” and then delayed correcting those statements.

按照Ness的指控，海航方面有大量不当行为。诉状称，海航和文思海辉“向CFIUS提供明显且明知虚假、不一致和误导性的信息”，然后迟迟不纠正那些陈述。

HNA and Pactera also allegedly “covertly worked to evade and frustrate Cfius’s ability to investigate and review the transaction, including by discussing, planning, orchestrating, and implementing various schemes to disguise the true nature of their organisations, corporate structures, and ownership”, according to the lawsuit.

诉状称，海航和文思海辉“暗中致力于逃避和挫败CFIUS调查和审查交易的能力，包括讨论、规划、策划和实施各种计谋，以掩饰其组织的真实性质、公司结构和所有权”。

Ness said in the complaint that it had found information provided by Pactera to be inconsistent with details in China’s National Credit Information Publicity System database, which showed that HNA founder Chen Feng and other executives held shares in several of its parent companies that they did not disclose.

Ness在诉状中表示，此前它发现文思海辉提供的信息与中国国家企业信用信息公示系统(National Credit Information Publicity System)数据库中的资料不一致，后者显示海航创始人陈峰等高管持有其几家母公司的股份，而文思海辉方面没有披露。

Pactera said the allegations were “without basis”: “Pactera has invested significant amount of time, labor and costs in meeting the CFIUS’ requirements. Despite Pactera’s efforts, Ness Technologies chose to terminate the contract, whilst at the same time making false allegations against Pactera.”.

文思海辉表示，这些指控是“没有根据的”：“文思海辉投入了大量时间、人力和成本来满足CFIUS的要求。尽管文思海辉尽了努力，但Ness Technologies公司选择终止合同，同时作出针对文思海辉的虚假指控。”

The company was founded as a provincial airline in the early 1990s but has grown into a $145bn conglomerate that now controls New Zealand’s largest financial services firm, and holds stakes in aviation services companies and hotels in at least 14 countries.

成立于20世纪90年代初的海航，最初是一家省级航空公司，但现已发展成为一家1450亿美元的集团，控制着新西兰最大的金融服务公司，并在至少14个国家持有航空服务公司和酒店的股份。

In July, the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the banking watchdog that operates under the European Central Bank, began considering whether to launch an investigation into whether HNA could wield significant influence over Deutsche Bank as its largest shareholder, according to people briefed on the situation, and whether it was fit to do so.

另据知情人士介绍，今年7月，欧洲央行(ECB)下属的银行业监管机构——单一监管机制(Single Supervisory Mechanism)开始考虑要不要展开一项调查，关键问题是：海航作为德意志银行的最大股东，有没有可能对该行施加重大影响力？它是否适合发挥这种影响力？

HNA’s financial health has come under scrutiny this year after Chinese regulators took steps to stop private companies moving money out of China.

海航的财务健康状况今年以来受到密切关注，此前中国监管机构采取措施阻止私营企业将资金转往境外。

However, in an interview with the Financial Times last week the company dismissed concerns about its liquidity, although it acknowledged a year-end credit squeeze as Chinese banks come to the end of their lending quotas.

不过，上周在接受英国《金融时报》采访时，该公司驳斥了对其流动性的担忧，尽管它承认存在年末信贷紧张的情况，原因是中国各银行的放贷额度已经所剩无几。