不良债务投资机构"海岸投资"遭遇生存危机

Shoreline Capital, a Chinese distressed debt investor with more than $1.5bn in assets under management, is in turmoil and losing staff at a time when it should be benefiting from mainland banks’ efforts to deal with problem loans.

海岸投资(Shoreline Capital)是中国的一家不良债务投资机构，总部在广州，管理着逾15亿美元资产，在其本应受益于国内银行着手处理不良贷款问题所带来的机会之际，该公司却陷入动荡，人员出走。

Disputes between the two principal founders about the fundamental direction of the Guangzhou-based investment firm and a series of defections could now jeopardise its survival, according to five people involved with the business as investors and employees.

据五位相关人士（包括投资人和员工）透露，两位主要创始人围绕公司发展的根本方向存在意见分歧，加上员工纷纷离职，可能危及公司的生存。

At least 14 investment professionals have left a firm that described itself has having “more than 20” — and investors will soon be asked to decide whether they want to leave their money with the firm or want its funds wound up.

至少已有14名专业投资人士出走——该公司曾自称拥有“20多名”专业人士。投资者很快将被要求做出决定：他们是希望把资金继续托付给这家机构，还是希望其旗下基金终止。

“The timing is very ironic . . . If we were all on the same page, we could even be raising a new fund,” said one key principal at Shoreline.

海岸投资的一位重要负责人称：“这个时点太讽刺了……如果我们意见都一致的话，我们甚至可能在募集一只新基金了。”

Ben Fanger and Xiaolin Zhang, who met at the University of Chicago, established the firm in 2004, and it has successfully raised three funds, all in US dollars, from a group of blue-chip investors including the Duke University endowment.

方杰明(Ben Fanger)和张晓琳相识于芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)，2004年联手创办了海岸投资。至今海岸投资已从包括杜克大学(Duke University)捐赠基金在内的蓝筹投资者那里成功募集3只基金，都以美元募资。

When Shoreline was raising the current fund in 2015, Mr Fanger predicted an “unprecedented’ increase in the supply of non-performing loans (NPLs) as a result of the lending boom between 2009 and 2011 in the wake of the global financial crisis.

2015年海岸投资正在募集当前这只基金的时候，方杰明就预测，在全球金融危机之后，由于从2009年至2011年间的信贷热潮，不良贷款供应将出现“空前”增长。

But problems began earlier this year when the current fund, which manages more than $500m, had invested about 80 per cent of that money, according to the people.

但据上述人士表示，今年早些时候，问题就开始出现了，当时海岸投资最新募集的基金已将大约80%的资金用于投资，这只基金管理着逾5亿美元资金。

Ms Zhang and Mr Fanger then began to talk about what to do next. Mr Fanger wished to raise another dollar-based fund similar to the previous three, he said on a recorded conference call with investors in late May.

张晓琳和方杰明于是开始讨论下一步怎么做。方杰明希望再募集一只与前3只基金类似的美元基金，他是在5月底与投资者的一次录音电话会议上说这番话的。

Ms Zhang, though, raised the idea of launching a big fund in renminbi with an entirely different, local investor base, some staff, Mr Fanger and investors say.

然而一些员工、方杰明以及投资者表示，张晓琳提出的想法是发行一只有着完全不同的投资者基础（由本土投资者构成）的大型人民币基金。

“We had differing views on how to grow and keep the long-term team together,” Mr Fanger said on the taped conference call. “Banks are aggressively selling NPLs and that is good for us. What was not so good was people throwing money at us. Xiaolin wanted more types of capital and more sources of capital.”

“我们对于如何发展以及如何凝聚长期团队有着不同的看法，”方杰明在这次录音电话会议上表示，“银行正在大力出售不良贷款，这对我们有利。不太好的情况是人们正砸钱给我们。晓琳希望获得更多种类和更多来源的资金。”

Ms Zhang and Mr Fanger declined to comment for this article

张晓琳和方杰明拒绝就这篇文章置评。

Through March, April and May, the two debated about what their strategy should be for the next fundraising. At the same time, employees started to leave. Some of them decided to launch a new fund which they named Shorevest.

从3月、4月直到5月，两人就下一轮融资应采取何种战略展开争论。同时，员工开始离开。其中一些员工决定发起一只新基金，他们给它命名为Shorevest。

Investors say they only became aware of the extent of both the dispute and the departures in the past month or two.

投资者表示，他们近一两个月才得知情况有多严重，包括两人之间的分歧和员工离职情况。

Then, in early June, Mr Fanger decided to leave and join Shorevest as well, according to these people. He and Ms Zhang then signed a separation agreement.

据这些知情人士称，6月初，方杰明决定离开，也加入Shorevest。接着他和张晓琳签订了一份分离协议。

“The split stemmed largely from my unwillingness to pursue certain business interests that I believe are inconsistent with our investors’ objectives,” Mr Fanger wrote in a June 6 letter to investors seen by the Financial Times. “Before our agreement to separate, I pushed for Xiaolin and I to find a way for us to manage the existing Shoreline funds together. But Xiaolin expressed an uncompromising desire to go forward managing Shoreline and its funds on her own.”

“分开主要是因为我不愿追求某些我认为与我们投资者的目标不一致的商业利益，”方杰明在6月6日一封致投资者的信中写道，“在我们协议分开之前，我曾力促晓琳和我找到一个我们可以共同管理海岸现有基金的方法。但晓琳表达了一种坚定不妥协的愿望，希望由她自己继续管理海岸及其基金。”英国《金融时报》看到了这封信。

Ms Zhang then emailed investors a few days later apologising for the “confusion of the separation of Ben and me, and “told them she was offering enhanced transparency” by appointing a third party to monitor the “very healthy” investment portfolio.

几天后，张晓琳给投资者发电邮，为“方杰明和我分开所引起的困惑”致歉，并“告诉他们她正提高透明度”，已委任第三方监督“非常健康”的投资组合。

His departure last week triggered a clause in the agreement with investors that says if one of the two founders leaves, the fund is barred from making further investments.

方杰明上周的辞职触发了与投资者协议中的一项条款，该条款规定，如果两位创始人之一离职，该基金将不得继续投资。

It is not clear what will happen to Shoreline’s existing investments. Investors appear to have three choices: let Ms Zhang keep managing the portfolio, demand that the fund be wound down as quickly as possible while avoiding a fire sale, or transfer the fund’s assets to another investment firm entirely.

目前还不清楚，海岸现有的投资将发生什么变化。投资者似乎有3种选择：让张晓琳继续管理投资组合、要求尽快关闭基金同时避免资产贱价出售、或者将该基金资产完全转移到另一家投资机构。

“As part of my separation agreement with Xiaolin, we agreed Shoreline would declare an Event of Termination for Fund II and Fund III, so that Shoreline’s focus would be on exiting assets in an orderly manner, rather than new investments (although Xiaolin has communicated she intends to reconsider declaring an Event of Termination),” Mr Fanger said in the June 6 letter.

方杰明在6月6日的信中表示：“作为我与晓琳分离协议的一部分，我们同意海岸将宣布基金II和基金III终止协议，这样海岸的重点将以一种有序的方式放在现有资产方面，而不是新投资（尽管晓琳表示过她打算重新考虑关于宣布终止协议的事情）。”

To some investors, the problems at Shoreline are about a failure to evolve as the firm grew. In their view, Ms Zhang was too focused on raising the next fund and not concentrating enough on managing the current one, as required by their agreements with investors. Some staff who left, meanwhile, felt the founders failed to share enough of the profits with them.

在一些投资者看来，海岸投资的问题在于管理层没有随着公司发展而转变。他们认为，张晓琳偏重于募集下一只基金，没有按照与投资者签署的协议中的规定，把足够多的精力放在管理现有基金。另一方面，一些离职员工认为创始人未能与他们合理分享利润。

People will write this off as another bad Chinese investment story,” says one long-time investor. “Sometimes in the go- go atmosphere in China, the short term opportunities can overwhelm the contractual obligations.”

“人们会把这当做另一个糟糕的中国投资故事，”一位长线投资者表示，“有时，在中国这种热火朝天的氛围下，短期机遇可能凌驾于合同义务之上。”

Meanwhile, one investment firm just starting to dabble in distressed debt in China and anticipating a massive increase in the stock of bad loans for sale says ”we are licking our chops.”

与此同时，一家刚开始涉足中国不良债务领域、预期不良贷款出售规模将大量增加的投资机构表示；“我们正垂涎不已。”