奧巴馬上臺(tái)后美國(guó)企業(yè)已放棄3700億美元交易

US companies have abandoned $370bn of deals sinceBarack Obama came into power in 2009, withregulators under his administration blocking anunprecedented number of transactions to protectcompetition, jobs and the tax base.

自2009年巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)就任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)以來(lái)，美國(guó)公司已經(jīng)放棄了總計(jì)3700億美元的交易。奧巴馬政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)阻止了空前數(shù)量的交易以保護(hù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)、就業(yè)和稅收基礎(chǔ)。

Corporate America responded with dismay onTuesday after the Treasury proposed new rules that torpedoed Pfizer’s takeover of Dublin-basedAllergan, valued at $160bn, or $190bn including debt, in an attempt to stop the drugmakermoving its headquarters to Ireland so it could avoid billions of dollars in US taxes.

美國(guó)企業(yè)界周二感到沮喪，因?yàn)槊绹?guó)財(cái)政部提出的新規(guī)讓輝瑞(Pfizer)收購(gòu)總部位于都柏林的艾爾建(Allergan)的1600億美元交易(包括債務(wù)在內(nèi)價(jià)值1900億美元)落空——新規(guī)旨在阻止這家制藥商將總部搬到愛(ài)爾蘭，以逃避數(shù)十億美元的美國(guó)稅單。

It was the latest in a series of interventions by branches of the Obama administration, whichhas thwarted more big-ticket deals than were blocked during the Bill Clinton and George WBush eras put together, according to a Financial Times analysis of abandoned deals valued atmore than $10bn.

這只是奧巴馬政府旗下機(jī)構(gòu)一系列干預(yù)的最新一起。英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》對(duì)價(jià)值100億美元以上的放棄交易進(jìn)行分析后發(fā)現(xiàn)，奧巴馬政府封殺的大型交易比比爾•克林頓(Bill Clinton)和喬治·W·布什(George W Bush)時(shí)代的總和還要多。

In 2014, AbbVie pulled the plug on its $55bn takeover of Ireland-based Shire — another“inversion” that would have enabled it to slash its US tax bill — -following a similar putative rulechange by the Treasury.

2014年，在美國(guó)財(cái)政部類似的推定規(guī)則改變之后，艾伯維(AbbVie)取消了以550億美元收購(gòu)總部位于愛(ài)爾蘭的Shire的交易——那是另一筆將讓企業(yè)逃避美國(guó)稅收的“稅收倒置”交易。

The administration has also blocked several big telecoms deals in an attempt to protectcompetition. Comcast withdrew its $71bn takeover of Time Warner Cable last year, after theDepartment of Justice signalled it would try to stop the deal. AT&T dropped its $39bn bidfor T-Mobile US in 2011 after the DoJ sued to block the deal, while Nasdaq’s $11bn attempt totake over the New York Stock Exchange was thwarted by antitrust concerns.

奧巴馬政府還阻止了數(shù)項(xiàng)大型電信交易以保護(hù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。在美國(guó)司法部暗示將試圖阻止交易之后，康卡斯特(Comcast)去年取消了710億美元收購(gòu)時(shí)代華納有線(Time Warner Cable)的交易。在美國(guó)司法部提起訴訟以阻止交易之后，美國(guó)電報(bào)電話公司(AT&T)于2011年放棄了390億美元收購(gòu)T-Mobile US的交易，同時(shí)納斯達(dá)克(Nasdaq)以110億美元收購(gòu)紐約證交所(New York Stock Exchange)的努力也因反壟斷擔(dān)憂而落空。

In contrast, the Bush administration blocked just one large deal — the $27bn takeover ofHughes Electronic by EchoStar, the satellite TV group. Two big M&A transactions weretorpedoed under Mr Clinton: the $12bn takeover of military supplier Northrop Grumman byits larger rival Lockheed Martin, and MCI WorldCom’s $125bn bid for Sprint, the mobilenetwork.

相比之下，布什政府僅阻止了一項(xiàng)大型交易，即衛(wèi)星電視集團(tuán)EchoStar以270億美元收購(gòu)Hughes Electronic的交易?？肆诸D政府阻止了兩項(xiàng)大型并購(gòu)交易，即軍品供應(yīng)商諾思羅普•格魯曼公司(Northrop Grumman)被其較大的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手洛克希德馬丁(Lockheed Martin)以120億美元收購(gòu)的交易，以及世界通信公司(MCIWorldCom)以1250億美元競(jìng)購(gòu)移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)Sprint的交易。

The current administration’s interventionist posture has provoked anger on Wall Street. Onelarge life sciences investor with holdings in Pfizer, Allergan and AbbVie said theadministration was building an “artificial prison for pharmaceutical companies, rather thandealing with the underlying issue” of relatively high taxes for US companies.

本屆政府的干預(yù)姿態(tài)在華爾街引發(fā)憤慨。一家在輝瑞、艾爾建和艾伯維均有持股的大型生命科學(xué)投資者表示，奧巴馬政府正在“為制藥公司建造一所人為的監(jiān)獄，而不是處理美國(guó)企業(yè)稅負(fù)相對(duì)較高的根本問(wèn)題”。

However, officials argue that the Obama era has coincided not only with a series of taxinversions but also with an unprecedented level of dealmaking. They believe some sectors arein danger of becoming uncompetitive after decades of consolidation.

然而，官員們辯稱，奧巴馬時(shí)代不僅趕上了一系列“稅收倒置”交易，而且交易撮合規(guī)模也達(dá)到史無(wú)前例的水平。他們相信，在幾十年的整合之后，一些行業(yè)有失去競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的危險(xiǎn)。

Debbie Feinstein, director of the -Federal Trade Commission’s competition bureau, told theFT: “There’s no question that we’re going to be aggressive against conduct or mergers thatare going to harm competition or consumers.”

聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)(Federal Trade Commission，簡(jiǎn)稱FTC)的反壟斷局局長(zhǎng)戴比•范斯坦(Debbie Feinstein)向英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》表示：“我們將打擊有損競(jìng)爭(zhēng)或消費(fèi)者的行為或并購(gòu)交易，這是毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)的。”