Sina, the Chinese internet company, won a proxy fight against an American hedge fund last week. On Tuesday, it doubled down to avoid further challenges from activist investors.
中国互联网公司新浪上周赢得了与美国一家对冲基金之间的代理权之争。周二,新浪继续发力,试图避免维权投资者发起进一步的挑战。
Just days after winning the proxy fight, the New-York listed Chinese company changed its shareholder structure, effectively giving majority control to Charles Chao, its chairman and chief executive.
就在赢得代理权战争几天后,这家在纽约挂牌上市的中国公司改变了自己的股权结构,实际上是把过半数控制权交给了其董事长兼首席执行官曹国伟。
Sina — which controls Weibo, one of China’s biggest social networks — had faced a shareholder vote forced by Aristeia Capital, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Conn. Aristeia had pushed for changes in Sina’s business to direct more money to shareholders, and nominated two new members for the company’s board.
作为中国最大社交网络之一微博的控制者,新浪曾面临总部设在美国康涅狄格州格林尼治的对冲基金Aristeia Capital强迫举行的股东表决。Aristeia要求调整新浪的业务以便为股东带去更多回报,并提名了两名新的董事会成员。
But on Friday, Sina defeated the challenge, seen as a key test of the power that American shareholders can wield over Chinese companies listed in the United States. The fight was also watched by investors who had complained about the relative lack of shareholder rights in Chinese companies that are incorporated in business-friendly places like the Cayman Islands, as Sina is.
但周五,新浪胜出。这次挑战被视作美国股东对在美国上市的中国公司所拥有权力的一场关键检验。这场争夺也受到了一些投资者的关注。他们抱怨,在像新浪一样注册于开曼群岛等商业友好地区的中国公司,股东权益相对缺乏。
In the aftermath of the proxy victory, Sina emphasized its focus on corporate governance. “We will continue engaging constructively with our shareholders toward our common goal of long-term value creation,” Mr. Chao said on Friday.
在赢得这场代理权之争后,新浪强调了自己对公司管理的重视。“我们将继续以建设性的态度与股东共同实现创造长期价值的目标,”曹国伟周五说。
On Tuesday, however, the company took steps to ensure it would not have to face an activist campaign again.
然而到了周二,该公司多管齐下,以确保不会再面临激进的争夺战。
It issued a new class of shares with super voting rights that have been transferred to a holding company controlled by Mr. Chao. The changes will give him a 55.5 percent voting stake in Sina and could prevent future attempts to introduce new board members or force votes on business strategy.
新浪面向曹国伟控制的一家控股公司发行了一类新股票,这类股票拥有更高的投票权。这些调整将让曹国伟对新浪拥有55.5%的投票权,可以防止未来有人试图引入新的董事会成员,或强迫就商业战略举行投票。
Sina said in a news release that it “had to divert significant amount of time, attention and efforts from the company’s normal business operations and strategic planning” because of the proxy fight with Aristeia.
新浪在一份新闻稿中说,因为与Aristeia的代理权之争,它“不得不从繁忙的日常企业经营和战略规划中分配出大量时间和精力”。
“The company believes any future proxy contest could be costly, time consuming and disruptive,” it added, and argued it was taking the steps to “protect itself from potentially disruptive and value destructive situations in the future.”
“公司相信未来任何的代理权之争都将代价高昂、耗费时日且扰乱公司的日常经营活动,”新浪接着写道,并称其采取相关措施是为了“防止公司未来陷入遭受破坏和价值受损的可能境况”。
It also said that it would be establishing a nominating and corporate governance committee within the board to find more independent directors.
新浪还表示将在董事会内部成立一个提名和公司治理委员会,以便寻找更多独立董事。
Representatives for Aristeia and Sina declined to comment. Shares in the Chinese company fell about 10 percent on Tuesday.
Aristeia和新浪的代表均拒绝置评。周二当天,这家中国公司的股票下跌约10%。
Bare-knuckle activist campaigns have been relatively rare in Asia where, in recent years, Daniel S. Loeb has taken on the owner of 7-Eleven, while Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has picked fights with Samsung Electronics and the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong.
不留情面的维权争夺在亚洲相对少见。最近这些年,丹尼尔·S·勒布(Daniel S. Loeb)对7-11(7-Eleven)的所有者采取过行动,保罗·辛格(Paul Singer)的埃利奥特资本管理公司(Elliott Management)也对三星电子(Samsung Electronics)和香港的东亚银行(Bank of East Asia)发起过战争。
Still, Sina would have appeared to have been an unlikely target for such a challenge.
但新浪本来看上去不太可能成为这样一场挑战的目标。
The company had seen its stock price increase markedly over the past year as investors bet on the growth of China’s internet sector. But Aristeia argued that Sina was “failing to hold itself to the standards expected of U.S.-listed public company boards” and called for the company to consider a sale or merger of Sina or Weibo, which is separately listed, or a buyback of shares by management.
过去一年,随着投资者押注中国互联网行业的增长,新浪股价上涨明显。但Aristeia认为,新浪“未能达到在美国挂牌的上市公司董事会应有的标准”,并要求公司考虑在新浪和单独上市的微博之间择一进行出售或合并,或是回购管理层持有的股份。