李小加呼籲改革香港上市規則
The head of Hong Kong’s stock market operator has questioned the city’s commitment to the “one share, one vote” principle, in his clearest comments to date following Alibaba’s decision to take its blockbuster listing to the US.
香港股市運營商主管李小加(Charles Li)就阿里巴巴(Alibaba)赴美上市的決定發表了一份態度最爲明確的評論。在該評論中，他對香港承諾的“同股同權”原則表示質疑。Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, wrote on his blog yesterday that inaction on regulatory reform “appears to have helped nobody”, yet had “hurt Hong Kong’s competitiveness in attracting new economy companies”.
李小加是是香港交易及結算所有限公司(Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing)的首席執行官。昨天，他在博客上表示，監管改革上的不作爲“似乎並無益於目前香港市場中的任何一方，但它卻實實在在影響香港市場吸引新經濟公司的核心競爭力”。
“ ‘One share, one vote’ is a rule that ensures those who have more of a firm’s share capital have more influence over the company; that is: money is king,” wrote Mr Li.
李小加寫道：“‘同股同權’只是一條規則，其潛臺詞是：‘資本爲王’，掌握資本者掌握公司命運。”
“But investor protection is a much bigger concept; it is an overarching series of rules and regulations aimed at ensuring investors, particularly public investors, are as protected as possible from wrongdoing by those in power. In other words, investor protection is the end, and ‘one share, one vote’ is only one of the many means.”
“而投資者保護則是涵蓋一系列法律法規、保護投資者尤其是公共投資者不受侵害的綜合保障制度。也就是說，保護投資者是目的，‘同股同權’是衆多手段之一。”Debate has been raging in Hong Kong in the past six months over whether the city needs to overhaul its current listing rules to allow either dual-class share ownership, or partnership structures that allow company founders to control board nominations without a majority shareholding. Many Chinese internet and technology companies have chosen to list in the US due to the more relaxed rules on voting rights and on profitability. Many now worry that Hong Kong is missing out as Chinese tech companies look to go global.
過去6個月，一場辯論在香港激烈展開，其焦點是香港是否有必要徹底修改其上市規則，以允許多重股權所有制或合夥人制度之類的股權制度，讓公司創始人不必佔有多數股權就能控制董事會提名。許多中國互聯網和高科技企業選擇在美國上市，就是因爲美國在選舉權和盈利能力上的規定更爲寬鬆。如今，許多人擔心香港在中國科技企業走向全球之際錯失良機。The discussion was sparked by the prospect of attracting Alibaba, China’s biggest ecommerce site, to Hong Kong for its initial public offering – which may yet be the largest in history. After months of negotiations, Alibaba said last month it would list in the US, where rules allow for the kind of partnership structure it is seeking.
引發這場辯論的是，香港本來有望吸引中國最大的電子商務網站阿里巴巴赴港首次公開發行(IPO)，這有可能成爲史上最大規模的上市。在長達數月的談判之後，阿里巴巴上月宣佈將在美國上市，因爲那裏的規定能夠讓該公司採用合夥人制度。Mr Li is among those eager to see a formal consultation over whether Hong Kong needs new rules to make sure it remains a global centre for capital raising, especially as more privately owned Chinese companies seek stock market listings.
和許多人一樣，李小加十分迫切地希望香港就是否需要新的規則來保障其全球募資中心地位舉行一場正式意見諮詢，尤其是在越來越多中國私有企業尋求上市之際。In his blog post, Mr Li says he supports those in favour of change, as the issue of weighted share structures was of “limited relevance” to investors.
他在博客文章中表示，他支持那些贊同改革的人，因爲對投資者來說，加權股票結構的問題“並不重要”。“It is difficult to conclude that US regulators chose to allow the dual-class share regimes because they do not care about investor protection. The success to date by firms like Google and Facebook makes it difficult for us to conclude that US investors have lost out as a result of such structures,” wrote Mr Li.
他寫道：“我們很難下結論說美國監管者允許多重股權架構源於它對投資者保護的漠視，而如此多Google、Facebook之類的名企均堅持併成功以多重股權架構上市與發展，也很難證明美國投資者反對或受害於這種架構。”
