Children of the revolution: youths featured in a 1970s propaganda
poster. More recently, China’s ‘princelings’ have been at the vanguard of the
financial
industry
革命的孩子：1970年代宣传画中的青少年。最近几年来，中国的“太子党”冲在了金融行业的先锋。
China: To the money born
中国：生即为钱
By FT
Reporters
英国《金融时报》记者综合报道
Published: March 29 2010 22:37 | Last updated:
March 29 2010 22:37
发表于：2010年3月29日22:37 ‖最新更新于：2010年3月29日22:37
New
Horizon Capital is one of the most influential and successful participants in
China’s fledgling private equity industry. It has billions of dollars under
management and a stable of investors that includes Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan
Chase, UBS and Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. But you would not
guess any of that from its central Beijing
headquarters.
新天域资本是中国新出现的私募股权投资基金业中最具影响力和最成功的企业之一。它管理着数十亿美元的资产，并有一批稳定的投资者，比如：德意志银行、摩根大通集团、瑞银集团、以及新加坡主权财富基金的淡马锡控股等。不过你在其位于北京市中心的公司总部却难以察觉到这些赫赫身价。
The
company has no nameplate in the lobby of the Golden Treasure Tower, a
nondescript building near the Forbidden City, the traditional seat of imperial
power. Its simple 12th floor offices are identified only by a small sign inside
the door that reads, in Chinese, “New Horizon Growth Investment Advisory
Limited”.
在座落在紫禁城附近的普普通通的金宝大厦大堂里没有这家公司的标识牌，这里是曾经的皇权所在地。仅在其位于该大厦第十二层的办公室门上有一个中文的小标识，“新天域成长投资咨询有限公司”
The
company does not need flashy suites as it has one of the most valuable assets in
China. He is Winston Wen, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg business
school in the US who keeps a low profile and bears a striking resemblance to his
father – Wen Jiabao, premier of the People’s Republic of
China.
这家公司不需要华而不实的门面，因为它自己就拥有中国最有价值的资产。他就是温云松（Winston
Wen），一名美国西北大学凯洛格商学院的工商管理硕士，他为人保持低调，长相酷似其父，中国总理温家宝。
The younger Mr Wen and
New Horizon are in the vanguard of a more aggressive generation of taizidang
(“princelings”) – offspring of senior Communist party officials – who dominate
the burgeoning home-grown private equity industry, where huge profits are to be
made from restructuring state assets and financing private
companies.
这位年轻的温先生和新天域公司是太子党中更为强势的先锋代表，（太子党是指共产党高官的后代）他们控制着迅速成长的本土私募股权投资基金行业，他们通过重组国家资产和为私有公司提供融资而获得巨大利益。
In
2009 private equity deals in China totalled $3.6bn, accounting for one-third of
all such transactions in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Thomson Reuters.
But industry participants say the potential market is far
larger.
据汤姆逊•路透公司统计，2009年中国的私募股权基金交易达到36亿美元，占亚太地区交易量的三分之一。不过业内人员说潜在的市场更大。
According
to those working in the sector, the princelings’ ascendance is squeezing out
less well connected operators, including foreign firms, which might have
important consequences for two reasons. First, private equity could play an
important role in modernising the economy, channelling funds to promising but
capital-starved companies – but those benefits will be felt only if the industry
is run in a professional and competitive
manner.
据业内人士说，太子党的主导优势将那些关系网不够強大的公司排挤出去，包括外国公司，这可能产生严重后果，原因有二。第一，私募股权可能在经济现代化过程中扮演一个重要角色，为那些资金缺乏但富有前景的公司提供融资渠道，但是这些益处只有在该行业以一种专业的竞争性的情况下运作，才能得以显现。
Second,
some in the political establishment fear that princeling dominance of private
equity could exacerbate public perception of nepotism and misrule at the top of
the Communist party. In an opaque authoritarian system lacking the popular
legitimacy of a democracy, such fears are hard to dismiss. A recent online
opinion poll by the People’s Daily, the party’s official mouthpiece, found that
91 per cent of respondents believe all rich families have political
backgrounds.
第二，一些当权者担心太子党主导私募股权行业，可能加重公众对中共高层暴政和裙带关系的印象。在一个不透明的专政体制下，缺少民主的公众合法性，这样的担心难以消退。共产党的喉舌《人民日报》的最近一个在线民调显示，91％的参与者相信所有的富有家族都有政治背景。
In
an interview with the same newspaper, the former auditor-general said the
fast-growing wealth of officials’ children and relatives “is what the public is
most dissatisfied about”. Li Jinhua, widely respected as the senior
graft-busting official between 1998 and 2008, told the paper this month: “From
the numerous cases currently coming to light, we can see that many corruption
problems are transacted through sons and
daughters.”
在该报的另一个专访中，前审计署审计长李金华说，官员子女和亲属快速增长的财富“是公众最不满意的”。他在1998年到2008年期间做为高级反贪腐官员广受尊敬。本月他在该报中谈到：“从目前曝光的众多案件来看，我们可以看到许多贪污问题都是通过他们的儿子和女儿们来操作的”。
Many
of the elite’s children are western educated and, over the past 15 years, dozens
have been recruited by western companies and banks hoping to secure an entry
into the Chinese market and win mandates to take state-owned companies public in
New York or Hong Kong. As most foreign investors know, employing the relative of
a senior party leader as an adviser or employee can help cut through
bureaucratic obstruction and resistance from local interest
groups.
许多精英的儿女都接受了西方教育，在过去的15年间，许多也被西方的公司或银行雇用，希望能确保进入中国市场，并赢得承销国有企业在纽约或香港上市的授权。大多数投资者都知道，雇用一名高官的亲属成为一名顾问或雇员，能帮助打破官僚体制的障碍，降低地方利益集团的阻扰。
But
today those institutions and investors are scrambling to invest in the private
equity funds of princelings who would once have been on their payroll. “In the
past, the best option for these people with ‘background’ was to go to the
high-paying western investment banks but now the economic strength has shifted,”
says one person in the private equity industry, asking not to be named because
of the sensitivity of the topic. “Now they’re saying to the foreigners, ‘Hey,
I’m in the driving seat, I have all the deals – so you give me your money and
I’ll invest it myself and take a big
cut’.”
但是现在许多机构和投资者正争抢着去投资曾经为他们打工的太子党的私募股权基金。“在过去，这些有“背景”的人的最好去处就是去高薪的西方投资银行，但是现在经济增长已经发生改变了，“一名因为话题敏感而不愿透露姓名的私募股权行业的人士说。“现在他们对外国人说，‘嘿，我现在掌舵了，生意都在我手下，所以你给我钱，我自己去投资拿大头’。”
Prominent
private equity princelings include George Li, a former banker at Merrill Lynch
and UBS with an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, whose father, Li Ruihuan, was one of the country’s
senior leaders from the late 1980s until 2003. Another son, Jeffrey Li, recently
resigned as China head of Novartis, the pharmaceuticals group, to go into
private equity, according to people familiar with the
matter.
令人瞩目的私募股权太子党还有李振智（George
Li），他是美林证券和瑞银集团的银行家，毕业于麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院的工商管理硕士，其夫是八十年代后期至2003年中国的高级领导之一李瑞环。他的另一个儿子李振福（Jeffery
Li）最近刚从诺华制药中国区总裁职务上离职，据熟悉此事的人透露，他将进入私募股权基金行业。
Wilson Feng, who bankers
and private equity investors say is the son-in-law of Wu Bangguo – officially
second in the party hierarchy – left Merrill Lynch two years ago to launch a
fund with ties to the state-owned nuclear energy conglomerate, according to
media reports and people familiar with the matter. Mr Feng was key to securing
Merrill’s mandate to take Industrial and Commercial Bank of China public in Hong
Kong in 2006 in the biggest initial public offering in
history.
据业内银行家和私募股权投资者说，Wilson
Feng是中国党内第二把手吴邦国的女婿，他两年前离开了美林证券，创立了一个与国有核电集团联系的基金。根据相关媒体报道和熟悉此事的人士说，Feng先生是确保美林证券拿到中国工商银行在香港2006年上市委托的关键人物，那是历史上最大一笔新股初始公开发行（IPO）。
Other
private equity princelings include Li Tong, daughter of Li Changchun, the member
of the nine-strong ruling Politburo standing committee in charge of propaganda
and the media. Ms Li now runs a private equity fund at Hong Kong-based Bank of
China International focusing on the media sector, according to three people
familiar with the matter. Stanford-educated Jeffrey Zeng, son of Zeng Peiyan,
former vice-premier, has also set up a fund affiliated with state-owned
financial institutions.
其他投身于私募股权的太子党还有李彤（Li
Tong），她父亲是九名中央政治局常委之一，负责宣传和媒体的李长春。据熟悉此事的三位人士介绍，李女士现在负责香港中银国际下的一家私募股权基金，专注于媒体领域。斯坦福大学毕业的Jeffrey
Zeng是前副总理曾培炎的儿子，也已经创建了一家隶属于国有金融机构的基金。
“This is turning into a crucial
moment for the financial industry in China,” says the head of a foreign bank in
Beijing. “But we are very worried that foreigners and other skilled Chinese are
being shut out by a string of princelings and other very well-connected people
trying to dominate [the private equity]
market.”
一家在北京的外资银行负责人说：“这必将是中国金融业的一个关键阶段，”“但是我们非常担心外国人和其他富有才华的中国人会被太子党和其他富有关系的人挡在这个市场之外，而他们试图主宰这个私募股权市场。”
The
government has been encouraging the creation of a home-grown private equity
industry in recent years but approvals to set up funds are tightly controlled
and investments often require them from numerous state agencies. Having the
relative of a top leader in its management team can help fledgling funds
overcome these
hurdles.
中国政府近些年来鼓励创建本土的私募股权基金行业，但是批准设立基金受到了严格管控，通常这些投资需要满足各种国家机构的要求。如果有高层领导的亲戚在管理层的话，就可以帮这些羽翼未丰的基金克服这些障碍。
Princelings
have long been suspected of leveraging parental political power for personal
gain; the topic was a source of public anger during the 1989 Tiananmen Square
student protests that ended in a bloody military crackdown. But Beijing
political insiders say two men led the way for the ambitious new generation,
fostering the modern perception of close ties between money and political
power.
太子党长期被怀疑利用他们父辈的权利谋取个人利益；这个话题曾经激起公众愤怒引发1989年天安门广场的学生示威，那场示威最终演变成一场流血军事镇压。但是北京的政界人士说，有两个人为这个雄心勃勃的新一代做了榜样，培育出现代版的权钱结合样本。
Levin
Zhu, son of former premier Zhu Rongji, and Jiang Mianheng, son of former
president Jiang Zemin, are familiar to many foreign investors, having worked for
or set up joint ventures with several large western companies. Their fathers
helped push through some of the past two decades’ most important market-based
reforms, including World Trade Organisation membership.
前总理朱镕基的儿子朱云来（Levin
Zhu）和前国家主席江泽民的儿子江绵恒，对于许多外国投资者来说都很熟悉，他们曾效力于或与几个大型西方公司设立联合企业。他们的父亲协助推进了在过去二十年间最重要的几项市场改革，包括加入世界贸易组织（WTO）。
Mr
Zhu has a PhD in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following
a stint at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, he returned to China in the
late 1990s and orchestrated a virtual take over of China International Capital
Corp, a joint venture in which Morgan Stanley holds about 34 per
cent.
朱先生拥有美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的气象学博士学位。在纽约的瑞士信贷第一波士顿工作了一段时间后，他于九十年代后期回到中国，精心策划了对中国国际金融有限公司实质接管，成立了一家合资企业摩根斯坦利持有其中34％的股份。
Mr
Jiang boasts a PhD in electrical engineering from Drexel University in
Philadelphia. Returning to Shanghai in the early 1990s he was courted by foreign
investors who saw him as the country’s most valuable joint venture partner.
Today, he controls Shanghai Alliance Investment Limited, a government investment
company operating much like a private equity
firm.
江先生号称拥有费城德雷塞尔大学的电子工程博士学位。在九十年代早期回到中国后，他受到了外国投资者的亲睐，因为他们认为他是这个国家最有价值的合作伙伴。如今，他控制着上海联合投资有限公司，一家与私募股权基金运作十分相似的政府投资公司。
With
their parents both out of formal office since 2003, the influence of Mr Jiang
and Mr Zhu has waned. But as children of the “third generation” of technocratic
leaders, they are seen to have paved the way for the current wave of
princelings. “Those two really helped create the image of Red families running
this country for their own benefit,” according to one person who deals closely
with many princeling families. “Their actions have given all the younger
generation a green light to go out and aggressively build their own buckets of
gold, no matter what the consequences for the image of the party or the
leadership.”
随着他们父辈2003年卸任后，江先生和朱先生的影响力逐渐降低。不过作为这些技术专家出身的“第三代”领导人的后代，他们被看作为当前的太子党热潮铺平了道路。“这两人确确实实给人留下一个印象，红色家庭治理国家是为了自己的利益，”据一位与许多太子党交往的人士说。“他们的举动给所有的年轻一代大开绿灯，就是努力去挖金子装到自己的桶子里，哪管对党或领导人的形象会造成什么后果。”
By
squeezing out foreigners and other competition, dominance of the private equity
sector by princelings will bring few benefits in terms of management skills or
financial discipline, some analysts and industry participants
say.
一些分析人士和该行业的从业人员说，随着挤压外国人和其他竞争者，太子党掌控的私募股权将不会给行业管理水平和金融纪律带来多大的好处。
“Private
equity is a very good area for princelings because with these sorts of
connections you can get into companies ahead of their IPOs and make a lot of
money in a short space of time,” says Professor Victor Shih of Northwestern
University. “It is an easy way to make money because everyone will be willing to
back them because of their connections. Everyone will do it willingly in order
to potentially get favours from senior leaders in
return.”
“对于太子党来说，私募股权是一个非常好的领域，因为由于你种种关系，你能在公司公开发行股票前进入该公司，在短时间内大赚一笔，”
美国西北大学教授史宗翰（Victor
Shih）说。“这很容易挣钱，因为他们的关系人人希望以他们为靠山。每一个人这么做就是希望从高层领导那里得到潜在的好处。”
People close
to several private equity princelings say they often feel they are victims of
reverse discrimination; that no matter how smart or hard-working they are, the
public will assume their success relies purely on nepotism. However, some
important operators in the Chinese sector, while benefiting from family links,
are seen in the industry as well qualified in their own right. One such person
is Liu Lefei, son of Liu Yunshan, head of the party’s central propaganda
department. The younger Mr Liu previously managed Rmb1,000bn
($147bn; |
