欧盟竞争事务新专员拟从严审查并购交易

Europe’s new antitrust chief has warned that telecoms mergers must not endanger “affordable prices” for consumers, in a shot across the bows of dealmaking executives that suggests takeovers will face tougher EU scrutiny.

欧洲新任反垄断负责人玛格丽特•维斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)警告说，电信业的并购不得危及消费者享有的“实惠价格”。这一警告意味着并购交易将面临更严格的欧盟(EU)审查，从而向撮合交易的高管们泼下一头冷水。

Margrethe Vestager — who vets all big EU mergers and oversees sensitive investigations ranging from US tech group Google’s alleged abuse of its dominant position to sweetheart tax deals for multinationals — wields far-reaching powers to impose hefty fines or block takeovers without court approval.

维斯特格负责审查欧盟所有大型并购交易，并负责多项十分敏感的调查——从谷歌(Google)涉嫌滥用其市场主导地位，到某些国家向跨国公司提供的优惠税务安排。她拥有影响深远的权力，无须法院批准就可施加巨额罚款或禁止并购交易。

With a wave of proposed mergers reshaping markets from Britain to Denmark, Ms Vestager has stressed the need to avoid price increases in her most detailed comments on the telecoms sector since becoming EU competition commissioner. “I have one interest and that is to make sure that European consumers — that being citizens or businesses — can enjoy relatively innovative markets at affordable prices,” she said in a Financial Times interview.

目前，从英国到丹麦，一波拟议中的并购交易正在重塑市场格局。面对这一局面，维斯特格在有关电信业的言论中强调了避免涨价的必要性。这番言论是她出任欧盟竞争事务专员以来对电信业发表的最具体评论。她在接受英国《金融时报》采访时表示：“我的兴趣只有一个，那就是确保包括欧洲公民和企业在内的欧洲消费者，能以实惠价格享有相对创新的市场。”

Although she declined to discuss specific deals, her willingness to challenge the industry over the link between consolidation and increased investment will rattle a sector that thought it had won some regulatory leeway.

维斯特格拒绝讨论具体交易。不过，她十分愿意挑战电信行业有关通过整合增加投资的说辞，此言将让自认为在监管方面赢得某些回旋余地的电信业产生恐慌。

A two-year M&A boom has tested competition rules and seen the acceptance of deals reducing the number of leading companies in national markets from four to three. Joaquín Almunia, Ms Vestager’s predecessor, cleared tie-ups in Austria, Ireland and Germany with conditions that a host of national competition authorities criticised as too soft.

在此之前，一场持续两年的并购热潮令反垄断法规面临考验。在这轮并购热潮中，监管机构曾批准那种会令全国市场中的顶尖企业数目从四家减至三家的并购交易。维斯特格的前任华金•阿尔穆尼亚(Joaquín Almunia)在批准奥地利、爱尔兰和德国的并购交易时附加的条件，被多国反垄断当局批评为过于宽松。

Ms Vestager will probably be asked to weigh approval of at least three sensitive deals: the purchase of Jazztel by Orange in Spain; a Telenor and TeliaSonera merger in her Danish home market; and Hutchison Whampoa’s move to buy Telefónica’s UK operations.

维斯特格或许将审核至少3笔敏感交易：Orange收购Jazztel（在西班牙）；Telenor与TeliaSonera合并（在维斯特格的故乡丹麦）；以及和记黄埔(Hutchison Whampoa)收购Telefónica英国业务。

Asked whether consolidation had fostered investment in infrastructure, Ms Vestager said: “Actually I have seen a number of examples of the opposite. So far it seems as if it is still competition that will lead to investment and not the other way round.”

在被问到合并是否促进了基础设施投资时，维斯特格表示：“事实上我看到了几起相反的例子。迄今为止，似乎还是竞争促进投资，而不是合并促进投资。”

She noted that the US market — held up as a success story by European executives — gave consumers “very little choice and higher prices than we do in Europe in general”.

她指出，在被欧洲高管引为成功范例的美国市场，消费者“总体而言选择比欧洲少，价格也比欧洲高”。

One of the most contentious moves would be shrinking the UK market to three rival mobile network operators — Vodafone, Three and EE, which is being acquired by BT.

最具争议的举动将是把英国市场的移动网络运营商缩减为3家——沃达丰(Vodafone)、Three和EE（EE正被英国电信(BT)收购）。

Vittorio Colao, chief executive of Vodafone, said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week that larger incumbents such as BT were seeking to benefit from their fixed-line monopolies. “It is clear that fewer players will emerge in the telecoms industry.”

沃达丰首席执行官维托里奥•柯拉奥(Vittorio Colao)上周在巴塞罗那世界移动通信大会(Mobile World Congress)上表示，BT等规模较大的老牌运营商正谋求通过它们在固话领域的垄断获益。“显然，电信行业的竞争者数量会减少。”

But other telecoms executives said privately that they were hopeful of continued support for mergers from the Brussels watchdog.

但其他电信业高管私下表示，他们认为布鲁塞尔的监管机构仍会继续支持企业合并。