英国卫报:走向失控的博姿药妆(11)（在线收听）

This is not an academic point, but a matter for public interest.

这不是一个学术观点，而是一个公共利益问题。

To pocket Boots, Pessina and KKR had to outbid another private-equity baron, Guy Hands.

为了收购博姿，佩西纳和科克罗公司不得不以高于另一位私募股权巨头盖伊·汉兹的出价。

His outfit, Terra Firma, went on to buy Four Seasons Health Care, the biggest care home operator in the UK.

他的集团泰丰资本随后收购了英国最大的护理院运营商四季保健。

It shares certain similarities with Boots: both private-sector providers of public services;

它与博姿有某些相似之处：都是提供公共服务的私营部门；

both weighed down by the expense of running old-fashioned bricks and mortar, both controlled by tax exiles (Hands uses Guernsey as his base).

两家公司都被经营老式实体店的费用所拖累，都受到逃税者的控制（汉兹以根西岛为基地）。

Four Seasons, too, was landed with outsize debt – and over the last few months, the group has gone into meltdown:

四季保健也背负了巨额债务——在过去几个月里，该集团陷入了崩溃：

struggling to pay the interest on its loans, castigated by government inspectors for providing “inadequate” care in 125 of its homes, forced to sell some properties and overhaul others.

由于难以支付贷款利息，政府检查人员严厉指责其对125套住房提供“不充分”的护理，迫使其出售部分房产并对其他房产进行翻修。

Four Seasons is now a prime example of what happens when private equity – big borrowing, hard charging – goes wrong,

如今，当私人股本——大笔借款、硬收费——出问题时，四季保健就是一个典型例子。

with results that may be paid for by its residents and families and even taxpayers over the coming months and years.

其结果是，欠款可能会在未来几个月或几年里由其居民和家庭甚至纳税人来偿付。

This is not likely to happen to Boots.

这种情况不太可能发生在博姿身上。

But Haslam sees the same conflict between outsize profit-seeking and public interest, claiming:

但哈斯拉姆也看到了过度追求利润与公众利益之间的矛盾，他声称：

“Boots is now about immuring tax, squeezing labour costs and taking out the dividends rather than reinvesting in the business.”

“博姿现在的目标是降低税收、压缩劳动力成本和提取股息，而不是对业务进行再投资。”

Whether as residents or patients, relatives or members of the public, we need our care homes and pharmacies to be reliably dull.

无论是住院医生还是病人，无论是亲戚还是公众，我们都需要养老院和药房绝对不景气。

When financiers get excited over such sectors, the rest of us should worry.

当金融家对这些行业感到兴奋时，我们其他人应该感到担忧。

Yet Pessina came to Boots promising double-digit growth.

然而，佩西纳来到博姿时承诺将实现两位数的增长。

“There’s so much to do – the products are fantastic, the spirit of the people is fantastic,” he fizzed in a 2008 interview.

“要做的事情太多了——产品棒极了，人们的精神棒极了，”他在2008年的一次采访中说。

“The important thing now is to motivate them and to convince them they can succeed.”

“现在最重要的是激励他们，让他们相信他们可以成功。”