Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong tycoon nicknamed “superman” in his home town, has had his ups and downs investing in the UK.
在香港有“超人”之称的李嘉诚在英国的投资有得也有失。
The $14.6bn windfall from the sale of Orange to Mannesmann in 1999, and the $9bn profit he logged when Vodafone bought his Indian telecoms investment in 2007, are just a couple of highlights from his celebrated career.
1999年将Orange脱手卖与曼内斯曼(Mannesmann)大赚146亿美元，以及2007年将名下印度电信资产卖给沃达丰(Vodafone)进账90亿美元，只是李嘉诚风光的职业生涯中的两个亮点。
But a blot on his record is an early foray into 3G mobile phone services, which took more than eight years to record its first operational profit.
而早年间挺进3G手机业务则是他事业上的一个败笔，这项投资用了8年多时间才首次实现经营利润。
The question today is whether he is making a costly mistake by paying racy multiples for utility companies in one of western Europe’s most mature markets. “There’s certainly a risk of overpaying,” says Robert Miller-Bakewell, a former equity analyst who covered the sector for two decades.
当前的问题是：他用高价在西欧最成熟的市场之一收购公用事业公司，是否正在犯一个代价高昂的错误？“出价过高的风险确实存在。”前证券分析师罗伯特•米勒-贝克威尔(Robert Miller-Bakewell)表示，他曾经负责该行业达20年之久。
Less than a year after a consortium led by Cheung Kong Infrastructure, Mr Li’s investment vehicle, snapped up EDF’s UK power grids for £5.8bn, CKI last week made an indicative cash offer to buy Northumbrian Water in a deal that would give the FTSE 250 company an enterprise value of £4.7bn.
不到一年前，以李嘉诚名下投资机构长江基建(Cheung Kong Infrastructure)为首的财团斥资58亿英镑收购了法国电力公司(EDF)旗下的英国电网业务，上周，长江基建向Northumbrian水务发出了指示性现金收购要约，将这家富时250指数(FTSE 250)成分股公司作价47亿英镑。
It is the latest sign that the supposedly dull UK utilities sector remains a big draw for CKI – despite its base in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and the demand for funds for large projects across Asia.
这一最新迹象表明人们眼里死气沉沉的英国公用事业仍然对长江基建有着极大吸引力——尽管长江基建的总部安扎在全球增长最快的经济体之一，而且该公司在亚洲各地的大型项目也都需要资金。