英国卫报:走向失控的博姿药妆(9)（在线收听）

Set in black ink on pink paper in the Companies and Markets section of the FT, these are no more than the technicalities of a company buyout.

在英国《金融时报》的“公司与市场”板块里，这些用黑色墨水写在粉红色纸张上的内容不过是公司收购的技术性细节。

Yet they amount to a dramatic shift in power.

然而，这意味着权力的戏剧性转变。

Think about that previous paragraph again: a billionaire based in a tax haven, Pessina,

再想想前一段：一位住在避税港的亿万富翁，佩西纳，

and a small consortium of wealthy investors and funds, represented by KKR, pick up a 158-year-old company employing around 70,000 Britons.

和一个以科克罗公司为代表的富有的投资者和基金组成的小财团，收购了一家拥有158年历史、约7万名英国人的公司。

To do so, they borrow billions from a few global banks and dump most of these loans on the balance sheet of Boots in the UK –

为此，它们从几家全球性银行借入数十亿美元，并将其中大部分贷款计入博姿英国公司资产负债表，

pushing it deep into debt, even though the debt has nothing to do with the actual business Boots does here.

将其推入债务的深渊，尽管债务和英国在这里实际的商业没有关系。

A firm that delivers an essential social service is now private, making it almost impossible for outsiders to see how it is changing.

一家提供重要社会服务的公司现在是私有的，局外人几乎不可能看到它是如何改变的。

Finally, the profits made by Boots UK are used to repay the lenders faster and ultimately leave more profit for the investors.

最后，博姿英国获得的利润将用于更快地偿还贷款，并最终将更多利润留给投资者。

In this way, British money – whether from customers or taxpayers – was siphoned offshore.

通过这种方式，英国的资金——无论是来自客户还是纳税人的——都被抽到了海外。

The KKR funds that owned Alliance Boots were housed in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands, while the stakes held by Pessina were located in Luxembourg.

拥有联合博姿的科克罗公司基金位于避税港开曼群岛，而佩西纳持有的股份位于卢森堡。

A few months after going private, Alliance Boots shifted its headquarters from Nottingham to the low-tax canton of Zug in Switzerland.

在私有化几个月后，联合博姿将总部从从诺丁汉搬到了税率较低的瑞士楚格州。

There is nothing illegal about these arrangements, and a spokesman insisted at the time that the move to Zug was absolutely not for tax purposes:

这些安排并不违法，一名发言人当时坚称，搬到楚格州绝对不是为了缴税：

“We have chosen to locate the overall stewardship of the group in Switzerland

“我们选择将集团的整体管理工作设在瑞士，

as we believe it enhances the position of Alliance Boots as a leading international pharmacy-led health and beauty group.”

我们相信，这将加强联合博姿作为领先的国际医药保健美容集团的地位。”

Yet when Richard Brooks, a former tax inspector, visited Alliance Boots GmbH in 2012,

然而，当前税务稽查员理查德`布鲁克斯在2012年访问联合博靴有限公司时，

he found that its “headquarters” in Zug was “one of around 50 unrelated companies dealt with by a local business service company,

他发现该公司位于楚格州的“总部”是“当地一家商业服务公司与大约50家不相关的公司打交道，

the proprietors of which were none too pleased with the visit.” And, he reported, no Boots employees were present.

他们的老板对这次访问不太满意。而且，据他说，没有博姿的员工在场。