商业

　　Veolia's boardroom battle

　　威立雅集团的董事会斗争

　　Plumbing the depths

　　政界涉商之深

　　What a row over a water company says about French capitalism

　　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 outrageous 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 oust 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 axe to Mr Proglio's empire, which spanned 77 countries and 250 varieties of business, and turn Veolia into something resembling a modern, focused company.

　　弗雷罗去年十二月宣称将放弃前任的既定方案，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