博通试图敌意收购高通
Broadcom turned its $130bn takeover offer for Qualcomm into a full-blown hostile bid yesterday after it proposed ousting the entire board of its rival chipmaker in an effort to win the biggest technology deal in history.
博通(Broadcom)昨日将其1300亿美元收购高通(Qualcomm)的要约变成了彻头彻尾的敌意收购，此前博通为了赢得这笔史上最大规模的科技业交易而提议驱逐高通整个董事会。The Singapore-based group presented 11 directors to replace the entire board of the world’s largest maker of smartphone chips, putting in motion what is likely to be a heated proxy fight.
这家总部位于新加坡的集团提名11名董事来取代世界最大智能手机芯片制造商的整个董事会，这一动议很可能引发一场激烈的代理人战争。Broadcom’s move comes after the Qualcomm board rejected its $70-a-share offer — of which $60 is in cash — because it undervalued its business and presented “significant regulatory uncertainty”.
此前，高通董事会拒绝了博通提出的每股70美元的报价（其中60美元为现金），理由是博通低估了高通的业务，并带来“显著的监管不确定性”。
Changing the target’s entire slate of directors is one necessary condition for winning a hostile takeover, but not the only one: satisfying shareholder concerns on price and regulatory risks is also needed. Since 2010, 57 per cent of global hostile takeover approaches have failed, according to Dealogic.
撤换收购目标全体董事，是赢得敌意收购的必要条件之一，但并不是唯一的条件：还需要打消股东对价格和监管风险的担忧。据Dealogic的数据显示，自2010年以来，全球57%的敌意收购企图都以失败告终。Qualcomm said Broadcom’s nominees were “inherently conflicted, given Broadcom’s desire to acquire Qualcomm in a manner that dramatically undervalues” the chipmaker.
高通表示，“鉴于博通打算以严重低估高通的方式收购高通”，其提名的候选人“存在固有的冲突”。The San Diego-based company is set to argue that it has a strong and fresh board whose members have an average tenure below that of S&P 500 companies, in part due to the addition of three directors at the instigation of activist investor Jana Partners in 2015.
这家总部位于加州圣迭戈的公司肯定会辩称，它拥有强劲而有活力的董事会，其董事会成员的平均任期低于标普500企业的平均水平——部分是因为维权投资机构加纳伙伴基金(Jana Partners)于2015年推动3名新董事加入了董事会。Broadcom said it planned to nominate nine men and two women to be Qualcomm directors at the company’s annual meeting on March 6. It added it supported the reappointment of the three directors backed by Jana and would seek to enlarge the board’s size.
博通表示，计划在明年3月6日举行的高通年会上提名9名男性和2名女性担任该公司的董事。它补充称，它支持加纳推举的3名董事连任，并将寻求扩大董事会规模。A deal would be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the industry and would create a market leader in chips for -everything from mobile phones to new- generation electric vehicles.
该交易将是该行业合并潮中最新的一笔交易，将缔造芯片（用于从手机到新一代电动汽车等众多产品）行业的市场领头羊。
People close to Qualcomm’s management have dismissed Broadcom’s approach as an opportunistic attempt to capitalise on current weaknesses. Qualcomm has been in a protracted legal battle with a big customer, Apple, and has been struggling to close its $39bn takeover of rival NXP Semiconductors.
接近高通管理层的知情人士对博通的做法不屑一顾，称其为试图利用高通当前股价疲软的投机行为。高通目前正处于与大客户苹果(Apple)旷日持久的法律诉讼之中，同时正在努力完成以390亿美元收购竞争对手恩智浦半导体公司(NXP Semiconductors)的交易。Qualcomm believes that once it settles those matters it will be able to grow at a faster pace. It also believes it is positioned to benefit from the introduction of 5G, a new wireless standard. Those factors would also lift its stock, which, at about $65, is below Broadcom’s offer.
高通认为，一旦解决了这些问题，它将会以更快的速度增长。它还认为自己将受益于全新无线通信标准5G的引入。这些因素都会提振其股价；目前65美元左右的股价低于博通的报价。
