经济学人:欧洲的激进主义 对冲基金(上)

 　　Bussiness 商业

　　Activism in Europe: Leading from behind 欧洲的激进主义：后来居上

　　A quiet activist¹ hedge fund finds success behind the scenes. 一家低调的激进对冲基金在幕后取得成功。

　　“Sclerotic companies abound² in Europe,” says Christer Gardell, co-founder and managing partner of Cevian Capital, an activist hedge fund based in Sweden. 总部设在瑞典的激进维权投资基金（Cevian Capital）的联合创始人兼管理合伙人嘉戴尔（Christer Gardell）说：“公司的僵化在欧洲随处可见。”

　　That is an uncommonly³ pugnacious⁴ statement for a firm that operates behind the scenes and uses public pressure as a last resort. 对于一个在幕后经营并以公共的压力为最后手段的公司来说，这是一个异常好战的声明。

　　Unlike its louder American peers, such as Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Paul Singer's Elliott Management or Dan Loeb's Third Point,  不像比尔·阿克曼的潘兴广场，保罗·辛格尔的艾略特管理公司以及丹尼尔·洛布的第三点管理公司那些大名鼎鼎的美国同行们一样，

　　Cevian has never written a pointed⁵ open letter to a chief executive or waged a proxy⁶ battle  Cevian从未向首席执行官写过一封明确的公开信或发起代理战

　　(although Carl Icahn, an activist who has been known to call bosses “morons”, is one of its investors). （尽管卡尔·伊坎，一位以称老板为“蠢货”而出名的活动家，是其投资者之一）。

　　Its calm approach seems to suit corporate⁷ Europe. 其冷静方法似乎适合欧洲企业。

　　Cevian is the region's largest activist fund, and one of the world's biggest, with over $15.4bn in assets. Cevian是该地区最大的维权基金，也是世界上最大的维权基金之一，拥有超过154亿美元的资产。

　　It was founded by Mr Gardell and Lars Forberg in Stockholm in 2002; both still run it. 它由嘉戴尔和拉尔斯·福伯格两位于2002年在斯德哥尔摩创立的；两位现在仍掌管着它。

　　Its “constructive” activism, focusing on only a dozen companies at a time,  它的“建设性”行动主义，即一次仅仅集中于关注十几家公司，

　　goes back to the founders⁸' time as chief executive and chief investment officer of Custos, a listed investment firm, in the mid-1990s. 追溯到20世纪90年代中期担任上市投资公司Custos的首席执行官兼首席投资官的创始人时期。

　　Although European corporate governance is often compared unfavourably with America's, Mr Gardell says it has many advantages. 尽管欧洲公司的治理往往比不过美国的公司，但嘉戴尔说它具有很多优势。

　　American management largely controls the process for nominating new board members, so an activist fund may need to wage a loud campaign just to get a seat at the table. 美国管理层主要控制提名新董事会成员的过程，因此维权基金仅仅获得会议的一席之位都可能需要发动大力宣传才行。

　　In the countries where Cevian operates, its typical ownership stake of 5-20% is enough to easily, or even automatically, get a board seat. 在Cevian运营所在的这些国家中，典型的5-20%股权足以容易地，甚至自动获得董事会席位。

　　That said, it operates mainly in the Nordic countries, Britain, Germany and Switzerland, regarding governance in the wilds of southern Europe as too unpredictable. 即便如此，它主要在像北欧国家以及英国，德国和瑞士运营，因为在南欧偏远地区的治理具有不可预测性。

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

3 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

4 pugnacious   

adj.好斗的

参考例句：

• He is a pugnacious fighter.他是个好斗的战士。
• When he was a child,he was pugnacious and fought with everyone.他小时候很好斗，跟每个人都打过架。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句