经济学人202:威立雅集团的董事会斗争

 　　Business

　　商业报道

　　Veolia's boardroom battle

　　威立雅集团的董事会斗争

　　Plumbing¹ the depths

　　政界涉商之深

　　What a row over a water company says about French capitalism².

　　从一家水务公司总经理的连续更替来看法国的资本主义。

　　EVEN by the standards of French business, from which politics is rarely absent, it was an outrageous³ plan.

　　即便是按照法国商业的惯例，即鲜有政不涉商的标准来看，威立雅集团的打算也是极其过分的。

　　This week news emerged of a plot to oust⁴ Antoine Frerot, chief executive of Veolia, a private water and waste group, and replace him with Jean-Louis Borloo, a politician and former energy minister.

　　本周，风言威立雅水务集团密谋用前能源部长，政客让路易·博洛取代现任总经理安东尼 弗雷罗的消息四起。

　　Civil servants regularly take the top job at blue-chip French firms.

　　在法国，公务人员担任蓝筹股公司高管也算常事。

　　But Mr Borloo, who has no experience running a business, seemed singularly unqualified to run an unprofitable company which needs deep restructuring.

　　但是由丝毫没有商业经验的博洛似乎绝不可以胜任掌管一家需要深度重组的亏损公司。

　　Mr Borloo is a friend of Henri Proglio, who was Veolia's chief executive from 2003 until 2009.

　　博洛是亨利 布格洛的好友，后者2003至09年曾任威立雅集团的总经理一职。

　　Mr Proglio then handed the job to Mr Frerot, his chosen successor, and became chief executive of Electricite de France, a utility.

　　之后接替布格洛的是其亲自挑选的继任人弗雷罗，而布格洛到公用事业公司法国电力担任总经理。

　　For a year after becoming boss of EDF, Mr Proglio stayed on as Veolia's chairman, collecting two big pay packages.

　　在布格洛掌管法国电力一年之后，他仍保有威立雅集团的董事长头衔，同时拿着两大公司的薪酬。

　　After a corporate-governance storm, he stepped down as chairman of Veolia in 2010 but kept a seat on its board.

　　在企业治理风暴之后布格洛才辞掉威立雅集团董事长一职但仍拥有董事席位。

　　The origin of this week's row is Mr Frerot's plan to restructure Veolia, one of France's largest private-sector employers.

　　本周传言的起因是，威立雅集团，这家法国头号私营公司的主管弗雷罗计划对公司进行重组而引发的。

　　The firm's shares have fallen by 60% in the past 12 months, as it has struggled with tumbling profits and high debt.

　　威立雅集团由于利益下滑和重债缠身，去年一年股价下跌了60%。

　　Instead of following the path set out by his former boss, Mr Frerot announced last December that he would take an axe⁵ to Mr Proglio's empire,

　　弗雷罗去年十二月宣称将放弃前任的既定方案，

　　which spanned 77 countries and 250 varieties of business, and turn Veolia into something resembling a modern, focused company.

　　对这家涉及77个国家，250种商业活动的公司进行大刀阔斧的改革，使之成为一家现代化的、有主要项目的公司。

　　He announced a sale of assets worth 5 billion and a retreat to 40 markets, as well as an overhaul⁶ of the company's culture.

　　弗雷罗还宣布将出售价值50亿欧元的资产，退出40个市场，并重建企业文化。

　　It was entirely⁷ clear that something radical⁸ needed to be done to focus the business, says Per Lekander, an analyst⁹ with UBS, an investment bank, in Paris.

　　非常明显，发展重点项目肯定需要做一些出格的事情，位于巴黎的投行瑞银集团的分析师佩尔·莱坎德如是所说。

　　But Mr Frerot's rebellion has infuriated Mr Proglio, who has reportedly been briefing fellow board members of Veolia that they need to replace him.

　　不过弗雷罗的离经叛道激怒了布格洛，据报道布格洛已与董事会的其他成员碰头商讨要替换弗雷罗。

　　Mr Borloo has denied that he wants to become Veolia's chief executive, but has admitted meeting board members.

　　布格洛否认他想担任总经理一职，但承认了与董事们会面。

　　Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, was obliged to deny any involvement in the plan to replace Mr Frerot.

　　法国总统萨科奇被迫否认参与了密谋替换弗雷罗一事。

　　Francois Hollande, the Socialist¹⁰ candidate in the presidential election this spring, denounced the plot.

　　参加今年春季总统大选的社会党候选人弗朗索瓦·奥朗德谴责了这个阴谋。

　　Mr Frerot should keep his job, at least for now; Mr Sarkozy cannot risk more controversy¹¹ so soon before the election.

　　他认为至少当前应该让弗雷罗继续工作。大选临近，萨科奇也不敢再惹争议。

　　Nonetheless, the affair should worry shareholders¹² in big French companies.

　　事尽如此，此事还是让持有法国大公司股票的股东们人心惶惶。

　　The practice of parachuting political figures to the top of important firms is thriving, despite hopes that it was on the way out.

　　尽管只是希望有条出路，但往大公司的高管职位上空降政治人物的活动还是很流行的。

　　Most recently, Alexandre de Juniac, a chief of staff to Christine Lagarde when she was finance minister, took charge at Air France in spite of having no operating experience of the airline business.

　　最近，曾在拉杰德任财长时担任其幕僚长的亚历山大·德 朱尼亚克，在毫无航空业管理经验的情况下掌管起了法航。

　　France Inc continues to be influenced by a small network of politically connected power brokers¹³. Mr Proglio's continuing sway over Veolia is merely an extreme example.

　　法国公司继续被一小撮有着政治纽带的权力经纪人所影响着。而布格洛对威立雅集团持续不断的影响仅仅只是个特例。

1 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

3 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

4 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

5 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

6 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

11 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

12 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

13 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分