外资银行走出香港中环

Hong Kong’s bankers have a peculiar problem when shepherding overseas clients around the city: persuading them it is easier to walk to meetings than book a limo. The central business district’s compact nature is unique among financial centres and has been a source of pride, even as it has spurred the highest office rents in the world.

香港银行人士在带海外客户游览这座城市时会遇到一个独特的问题：让他们相信步行到开会地点比租一辆豪华轿车去更容易。在全球各金融中心中，这个中央商务区的紧凑性是独一无二的，而且一直让香港引以为傲，即便它带来了全球价格最高的办公楼租金。

Where once it was International bankers, now it is Chinese companies that are driving those rents ever higher. Hong Kong, no stranger to China-induced bubbles, is wondering how far this one can go. Bankers, increasingly forced into less central neighbourhoods, will meanwhile have to choose between taxis and traffic jams and taking the underground, known as the MTR.

推高香港办公楼租金的曾经是国际银行家，如今变成了中国内地企业。香港对于中国吹起的泡沫并不陌生，它正在揣测这个泡沫能坚持多久。越来越多的银行人士正被迫迁入不那么中心的地段，他们将不得不在出租车和交通堵塞与乘坐港铁(MTR)之间做出选择。

To lease the upper floors of a prime Hong Kong skyscraper, companies must pay $279 a square foot a year, says PwC. That is 75 per cent more than the $158 paid in New York, the second most expensive city. Tokyo at $150, London at $114 and San Francisco at $113 round out the top five. Chinese groups took a record 43 per cent of space leased in Hong Kong’s Central district last year — double the proportion of five years ago, according to property experts Jones Lang LaSalle.

普华永道(PwC)表示，要租用香港甲级办公楼的高层，企业必须支付每年每英尺279美元的租金。这要比全球第二昂贵的城市纽约158美元的租价高出75%。东京为150美元，伦敦为114美元，旧金山为113美元，这5个城市是全球办公楼租金最贵的5个城市。根据房地产专业机构仲量联行(Jones Lang LaSalle)的数据，去年中资集团创纪录地占到香港中环办公楼租用空间的43%，这个比例是5年前的两倍。

Driving demand are Chinese financial groups including smaller banks, fund managers and brokers, which are following their clients’ interest in the growing financial links between Hong Kong and the mainland, such as the Stock Connect trading scheme.

推动需求的是中国内地金融集团，包括规模较小的银行、基金经理和券商，它们正追随客户对于香港与内地日益增强的金融往来的兴趣，例如沪港通和深港通等交易机制。

Leasing is brisk. HNA Group, the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate, recently almost doubled its space in Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong’s premier building, for $270 per square foot. The 88-storey tower offers unparalleled views of the harbour and tenancy is considered a sign of success as well as deep pockets.

租赁活动活跃。并购意愿强烈的内地综合企业海航集团(HNA Group)最近把在香港甲级办公楼国际金融中心二期(Two International Finance Centre)租用的办公面积增加近一倍，租金为每平方英尺270美元。这座88层的大厦拥有无敌的维多利亚港海景，在这里租用办公场所被视为成功和财力雄厚的象征。

“Mainland corporates really only want IFC Two, not even IFC One. It has to be iconic,” said one commercial property investor, referring to the IFC development’s smaller 39-storey tower.

一位商业地产投资者在谈到国际金融中心规模较小的39层一期项目时表示：“内地企业真的只希望租国际金融中心二期，就连一期也不够好。它肯定是标志性的。”

Chinese enthusiasm extends to whole buildings. Last year, Everbright, the state-owned conglomerate, and property developer Evergrande each bought towers in Central for a combined $2.9bn in the city’s priciest ever commercial transactions. Other groups that have bought offices outside Central recently report immediate overtures from mainland buyers.

中国内地企业的热情延伸至整栋办公楼。去年，国有综合企业光大(Everbright)和房地产开发商恒大地产(Evergrande)各自在中环买下办公楼，共计斥资29亿美元，是香港价格最高的商业地产交易。最近在中环以外地段购买办公楼的企业表示，内地买家很快表示了兴趣。

Corporate China’s interest coincides with retrenchment and caution among multinational groups. “I’m not sure given the Hong Kong stock market and the global markets picture, that they are strong enough for international banks to reinvest in space in the world’s most expensive office district,” says Charles Wong, Asia head of listed real estate at AMP Capital. “There’s no other gateway city, anywhere with such big gaps in rents between districts.”

在中国内地企业界对香港办公楼市场产生兴趣的同时，跨国集团却在收缩并保持谨慎。“从香港股市和全球市场的状况看，我不确定它们是否足够强劲，能够促使跨国银行在这个全球最昂贵的办公区再次投入资金，”安保资本(AMP Capital)上市房地产公司亚洲总监Charles Wong表示，“世界上没有其他门户城市像香港这样，在不同地段之间的租金差距如此巨大。”

Rents in the east of Hong Kong Island or even across the harbour in East Kowloon near the old Kai Tak airport are half or less the levels in Central. In 2014, Citigroup bought a 21-storey tower in East Kowloon for HK$5.4bn ($699m) and last year moved in 3,000 of its employees. Many Citi staffers, meanwhile, fought hard not to relocate from Central, where the bank’s downsized presence means its building is no longer named Citibank Plaza.

香港岛东部或者甚至维多利亚港对岸、启德机场旧址附近的九龙东地区的租金是中环的一半甚至更低。2014年，花旗集团(Citigroup)在九龙东以54亿港元（合6.99亿美元）购入一栋21层办公楼，去年迁入该行3000名员工。与此同时，很多花旗员工激烈反对，不愿从中环迁出，该行在中环缩减规模意味着那栋大楼的名字不再是花旗银行广场(Citibank Plaza)。

Last month Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer became the first top-tier law firm to make plans to move fully out of Central, leasing new space to the east, from 2018. Fund manager AllianceBernstein is following suit. “Ten years ago multinationals wouldn’t even look outside Central,” said Paul Yien, regional director of Hong Kong markets for JLL, who sees the moves slowly changing the face of Hong Kong. “The whole harbour will become a core business district.”

上月，富而德律师事务所(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)成为第一个计划完全撤出中环的顶级律师事务所，从2018年起将在中环以东地段租用新的办公地点。基金管理公司联博(AllianceBernstein)也在这么做。“10年前，跨国公司根本不考虑中环以外，”仲量联行香港市场区域总监严威程(Paul Yien)表示。他认为这些举措正在慢慢改变香港的面貌。“整个维多利亚港将成为核心商业区。”

As recently as 2010, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse demanded big rent reductions for the inconvenience of moving from Central across the harbour to Kowloon as key tenants of a gleaming new skyscraper. Bankers in Central still routinely describe trips to the 109-storey International Commerce Centre — less than 15 minutes on the MTR — as “going to the dark side” but early predictions of mass staff defections came to naught.

就在不那么久之前的2010年，德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)还在要求大幅降低租金，以补偿从中环迁至维多利亚港对面的九龙、成为那里的崭新摩天办公楼的主要租户的麻烦。中环的银行人士仍经常把到达这座109层的环球贸易广场(International Commerce Centre)的过程（乘坐MTR不到15分钟）描述为“到黑暗的那一边去”，但最初预测的员工大规模流失并未应验。

With no sign of a let-up in mainland Chinese demand, few analysts expect prices to ease soon, leaving the current exodus from Central firmly on track. The bankers, lawyers and fund managers who feel displaced will have to comfort themselves with the fact that Hong Kong’s MTR has excellent 4G mobile coverage. And taxi drivers still know how to find the old Citibank Plaza.

鉴于没有迹象显示中国内地需求放缓，几乎没有分析师认为租金会很快回落，这意味着出走中环的趋势将延续下去。那些觉得被迫搬迁的银行人士、律师和基金经理们不得不这么安慰自己：港铁的4G移动覆盖率很棒。而出租车司机仍知道昔日的“花旗中心广场”在哪里。