商业 科技公司并购案增多 上移堆栈

　　Big deals are back, as is an old acquaintance

　　前几年盛行的大并购重新回潮

　　IT MUST feel good to be back.

　　回来的感觉真好。

　　Frank Quattrone seemed sidelined for good when the rock-star banker, who had taken dozens of technology companies public during the dotcom boom, was prosecuted for obstruction of justice.

　　当年，网络经济热得烫手，银行家弗兰克?奎特隆将数十家科技公司运作上市，受到了摇滚明星般的拥戴。后来奎特隆遭到妨碍司法的指控，人们以为他再无出头之日。

　　Yet after fighting off the charges, he swiftly founded Qatalyst, a boutique investment bank.

　　然而，奎特隆胜诉，并随即创立了一家小规模的专项投资银行Qatalyst。

　　In a short time it has become a popular adviser to tech firms angling for the best offer.

　　很快，这家银行因能够提供最优报价而受到科技公司追捧。

　　It helped Autonomy, a British software firm, sell itself to HP for buckets of cash (see article).

　　它曾帮助英国软件公司Autonomy以高价把自己出售给惠普。

　　Mr Quattrone is in the right place at the right time.

　　奎特隆先生占尽天时地利。

　　According to Ernst & Young, an accounting firm, the value of technology mergers and acquisitions, on an upward trajectory since late 2008, has increased by 75% in the second quarter of this year (see chart).

　　安永会计公司表示，自2008年末以来，科技公司购并价值成上升之势，今年2季度，增长率达75%。

　　The third quarter has already seen two deals of more than $10 billion:

　　3季度已有两项价值超过百亿美元的购并交易：

　　Autonomy and Motorola Mobility, a handset-maker, which Google bought for $12.5 billion (with Motorola also being advised by Mr Quattrone's Qatalyst).

　　一个是Autonomy，另一个是手机制造商摩托罗拉移动公司，后者被谷歌以125亿美元收购(摩托罗拉也接受了奎特隆先生的咨询意见)。

　　Mr Quattrone foretold this trend.

　　奎特隆先生对这种趋势早有预见。

　　To him, it is a consequence of the computer industry's shifting geology.

　　他认为，这是计算机产业结构变化的结果。

　　For decades, most firms concentrated on one layer of what geeks call the "technology stack": hardware, operating systems, databases and applications.

　　几十年来，多数计算机公司都把注意力放在了极客所说的"技术堆栈"某一层面上：硬件、操作系统、数据库以及应用软件。

　　But they are increasingly moving onto each other's turf—in search of growth and because customers demand everything in one package.

　　但这些公司的业务日渐重合，这既是为了寻找新的增长空间，也是为了满足顾客全方位服务的需要。

　　Buying a company is the fastest way to add to one's technology portfolio.

　　购买另一家公司可能是增加自己技术组合的一条捷径。

　　Yet there is more to the picture than this "reverticalisation", says Joseph Steger of Ernst & Young.

　　安永会计公司的约瑟夫?斯迪格表示，在这种背景下，远远不止 "重新垂直化"这么简单。

　　Many technology giants have plenty of cash: in the second quarter, the 25 largest had amassed $591 billion.

　　许多科技巨头拥有充足的现金，今年二季度，25个最大科技公司的现金总额高达5910亿美元。

　　Many also want to ride the big trends in the industry, in particular mobile technologies and cloud computing. More recently, patents have become an important rationale for acquisitions, as was the case with Google's takeover of Motorola.

　　许多公司也希望能够借着行业发展潮流，特别是移动技术和云计算，进行企业购并。眼下，专利已成为收购的最基本的条件，比如谷歌收购摩托罗拉一案就是如此。

　　Is the M&A boom a bubble?

　　这种购并热潮是不是一种泡沫？

　　Some see froth, with Google paying more than $510,000 per patent (if one forgets that Motorola also makes mobile phones) and HP doling out the equivalent of 17% of its own market capitalisation for an extra 1% of revenue.

　　谷歌为每项专利支付51万多美元（如果不考虑摩托罗拉还生产手机），惠普为了获得1%的额外收入，而支付了相当于自身市价17%的资金，有人从中看出了泡沫的成份。

　　But the recent stockmarket fall will calm things down.

　　最近股市下跌，让这一切重新归于平静。

　　Even Mr Quattrone may welcome this: he has no interest in being identified with another financial craze.

　　这可能也是奎特隆先生希望看到的，他对新一轮的金融热炒没有什么兴趣。