经济学人:支付:收购者被收购(1)

 　　Finance and Economics 财经

　　Payments: Acquirer acquired 支付：收购者被收购

　　An American payments firm goes online and buys British. 一家美国支付公司在线购买英国货。

　　A Bidding war was briefly¹ but eagerly anticipated. In the end, not a shot was fired. 一场短暂而急切参与的收购战，最后，没响一枪就结束了。

　　On July 4th the share price of Worldpay, a British payments processor,  7月4日，英国一家支付运营公司WorldPay，

　　leapt by 28% after the company said it had received preliminary approaches from JPMorgan Chase, America's biggest bank, and Vantiv, an American payments firm. 在声明已从美国最大的银行摩根大通和一家支付公司Vantiv获得了初步的方案后，其股票价格猛涨了28%。

　　The next day Worldpay said it had accepted a cash-and-shares bid from Vantiv, worth 7.7bn pounds ($10bn) , giving its shareholders² 41% of the combined group. 第二天，WorldPay公司表示已经接受了Vantiv公司的现金和股票收购，价值为7.7bn 英镑（100亿美元），给予其股东联合团队价值的41%。

　　JPMorgan Chase, sniffily explaining that it had considered a bid after an “invitation” from Worldpay, which is a client, declined to proceed. 摩根大通，不屑一顾地解释道他们考虑投标是因为他们的客户------Worldpay公司的“邀请”，现已经拒绝继续了。

　　Under Britain's takeover code that refusal rules out a counter bid for six months. 根据英国的收购法规，摩根大通的拒绝限制了六个月的还价。

　　The shares slipped back by nearly 9%. WorldPay公司的股票下跌了近9%。

　　Vantiv and Worldpay are “merchant acquirers” : companies that have contracts with sellers of goods and services,  Vantiv和WorldPay都是“商户”：与提供产品和服务的卖方有着合同的公司，

　　and licences from credit- and debit-card companies, to accept and process card payments. 有着信用和借记卡许可证的公司，接受和处理信用卡支付。

　　They also provide insurance—for example, refunding³ disappointed holidaymakers when an airline goes bust⁴. 他们也提供保险-----比如一家航空公司破产了，他们要赔偿失望的度假者。

　　Until a few years ago, explains Ali Farid Khwaja of Autonomous⁵, an investment-research firm, acquirers in both America and Europe had to have banking⁶ licences. 直到几年前，自治的Ali Farid Khwaja解释道，一家投资研究公司，要求在美国和欧洲的收购者都必须拥有营业执照。

　　As a consequence, banks still feature in lists of leading acquirers. 因此，银行仍在领先的收购方名单上。

　　According to the Nilson Report, a newsletter, they accounted for three of America's top seven last year: JPMorgan Chase ranked first, with Vantiv second. 根据一个时事通讯《尼尔森报告》，他们占据了美国去年前七名中的三名。摩根大通排名第一，Vantiv紧随其后。

　　Both Vantiv and Worldpay, indeed, emerged from banks. 事实上，Vantiv 和 Worldpay都来自银行。

　　Vantiv was spun⁷ off in 2009 by Fifth Third, an Ohio-based lender which still owns 17.9%. Vantiv在2009年被总部在俄亥俄州的五三银行拆分后，仍然占据17.9%的股份。

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 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

3 refunding   

n.借新债还旧债；再融资；债务延展；发行新债券取代旧债券v.归还，退还( refund的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They are refunding parents their money on over a billion toys. 他们退还父母他们的金钱在十亿个玩具。 来自互联网
• I am refunding the extra, but getting tired of doing this. 我退还额外的，而是要改变这样累了。 来自互联网

4 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

5 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

6 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

7 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。