一筆隱藏在香港的平安股權
報道 2012年11月27日
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/china/2012/11/27/c27pinganside/zh-hk/
溫家寶家人與平安之間的關係主要是通過持有一家位於總理家鄉天津的公司的股份實現的。但此外，他們似乎還與香港有聯繫。
鄭建源曾是平安的主要投資人之一。據平安前高管稱，他曾是香港富豪鄭裕彤(Cheng
Yu-tung)的商務助理及投資經理人，鄭裕彤同時掌管着新世界發展集團(New World Development
Group)以及世界最大的珠寶連鎖店之一周大福(Chow Tai Fook)。
Bobby Yip/Reuters
香港富豪鄭裕彤。他的公司曾持有平安公司20%的股份。
公司和其他公開記錄顯示，在投資平安前後，鄭建源掌控的投資工具與溫家寶的家人之間形成了多種商業合作關係，還曾為總理之子溫雲松的兩家創業公司提供資金。
此外，監管記錄顯示，2001年中期，鄭建源手下的一個投資工具從一家鑽石公司藉資900萬美元（約合5600萬元）。這家鑽石公司部分是由溫家寶 家人及其妻子以前在鑽石行業工作的政府同事控制的。之後不久，該投資工具——寶華——就在平安首次公開募股之前購入了平安約2000萬股的股票。
平安的高管拒絕對此發表評論。記者也無法聯繫到現年87歲的鄭裕彤。聯繫鄭建源的努力也沒有成功。
據那些熟悉平安將股份出售給鄭裕彤手下的人稱，1999年，一家周大福的合資公司在武漢被重組，在中國大陸還成立了其他幾個投資工具，以規避中國對外資公司持股的限制。
當時，高盛(Goldman Sachs)和摩根斯坦利(Morgan Stanley)持有平安約15%的股份。到2002年，滙豐銀行(HSBC)還持有平安10%的股份。根據1998年中國保險業監管機構發佈的規定，平 安的外商投資上限設在25%。由於香港自治，香港投資人也被看做是外商，所以這些規定也適用於香港投資人。
鄭建源利用中國政府頒發的身份證，在平安香港首次公開募股前，就通過多家公司持有平安10億股以上的股票，占平安總股份的20%以上。
“這幾方受控於同一個力量，”曾與鄭裕彤及溫家寶親屬共事過的一位高管稱。他因害怕遭到報復而要求不具名。“它隱藏在表面之下，就像希格斯玻色子理論一樣，是經濟暗物質：它有一股引力，但你卻看不到它。”
《紐約時報》查閱的一份平安公開文件顯示，該公司從未披露過鄭裕彤以及鄭建源曾持有股份，也沒有公開披露與他們有關的那些公司之間存在緊密連繫。對香港方面記錄的查詢以及對鄭建源身份證上所示的家鄉廣東省陸河縣的訪問表明，鄭建源事實上是香港公民。
陸河縣當地民警在搜索了政府數據之後稱，該縣查無此人，而他的身份證號也不在記錄中。在陸河縣編纂家史的鄭程宇（Zheng Chengyu，音譯）說：“我從沒聽過這個名字。”
Another Big Stake in Ping An, Hidden in a Hong Kong Investment
November 27, 2012
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/china/2012/11/27/c27pinganside/en/
The main connection to Ping An for
relatives of Wen Jiabao was through their stakes in a company based in
the prime minister’s hometown, Tianjin, in northern China. But there was
also apparently a Hong Kong connection.
One big investor in Ping An was Zheng Jianyuan, who former Ping An executives said worked as a business associate and an investment manager for Cheng Yu-tung, the Hong Kong billionaire who controls both the New World Development Group and Chow Tai Fook, one of the world’s largest jewelry store chains.
Ping An executives declined to comment. Cheng Yu-tung, who is now 87, could not be reached for comment. Efforts to reach Mr. Zheng were also unsuccessful.
One big investor in Ping An was Zheng Jianyuan, who former Ping An executives said worked as a business associate and an investment manager for Cheng Yu-tung, the Hong Kong billionaire who controls both the New World Development Group and Chow Tai Fook, one of the world’s largest jewelry store chains.
Bobby Yip/Reuters
Cheng Yu-tung, a Hong Kong billionaire. At one time, his companies owned 20 percent of Ping An.
Between 2000 and 2004, five companies affiliated with Mr. Cheng and
his New World Group acquired 20 percent of Ping An’s stock from the
China Merchants Group and other state entities ahead of Ping An’s
listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At one time, all five companies
were managed or controlled by Mr. Zheng.
Corporate and other public records show that the investment vehicles
controlled by Mr. Zheng formed numerous business partnerships with the
relatives of Mr. Wen, around the time of the Ping An investments, and
financed two start-ups run by the prime minister’s son, Wen Yunsong.
In mid-2001, moreover, one of Mr. Zheng’s investment vehicles
borrowed about $9 million from a diamond company partly controlled by
relatives of the prime minister, and his wife’s former government
colleagues in the diamond trade, according to regulatory filings. Soon
after, that vehicle — Baohua — bought about 20 million Ping An shares
before its initial public offering.
Ping An executives declined to comment. Cheng Yu-tung, who is now 87, could not be reached for comment. Efforts to reach Mr. Zheng were also unsuccessful.
People familiar with the sale of Ping An shares to associates of Mr.
Cheng say that in 1999 a Chow Tai Fook joint venture was restructured in
the Chinese city of Wuhan and several other investment vehicles were
set up in mainland China in order to avoid a Chinese restriction on
foreign ownership.
At that point, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley owned about 15
percent of Ping An’s shares, and by 2002, the British bank HSBC held 10
percent. Under rules issued in 1998 by China’s insurance regulators,
total foreign investment in Ping An was capped at 25 percent. Those
rules also applied to investors from Hong Kong, who are still considered
foreign because Hong Kong is governed separately.
Using a Chinese government-issued identity card in his name, Mr.
Zheng was able to control companies that held more than one billion
shares of Ping An stock at the time of the Hong Kong I.P.O. — just over
20 percent of Ping An’s shares.
“These several parties were under common control,” said one executive
who worked with Mr. Cheng and relatives of Mr. Wen, but who asked not
to be named for fear of retribution. “It was under the surface, like the
Higgs boson theory, economic dark matter: It has a gravitational pull, but you can’t see it.”
A New York Times review of Ping An’s public filings indicates that
the company never publicly disclosed that Mr. Cheng or Mr. Zheng
controlled the stakes — or that the various companies they were linked
to were closely related. And a search of Hong Kong records and a visit
to Luhe County, in Guangdong Province — the county listed as Mr. Zheng’s
hometown on his identity card — suggests that Mr. Zheng was in fact a
Hong Kong resident.
After searching the local government database, police in Luhe County
said no such person existed in the county, and that the ID number was
not in their records. And Zheng Chengyu, who compiles family histories
in Luhe County, said: “I’ve never heard of this name.”
