2021年经济学人 日不落帝国的崛起蓄势待发(2)（在线收听）

The country still attracts more venture capital than any otherin Europe. London is an asset in this regard. If your ambition is to build a globally relevant technology company, it helps to start it in a global city. Berlin is cool and cheap, but lacks a world-class university. Paris is pretty, but French labour laws are a pain. London can be an easier place for the footloose entrepreneurto settle—though a lotrests on how post-Brexit visa schemes work.

英国仍比欧洲其他国家更能吸引风险资本。在这方面伦敦就是一笔财富。如果你的目标是建立一家全球相关的科技公司，那么在一个全球化的城市创办这家公司会有所帮助。柏林很酷，成本也低，但没有世界一流的大学。巴黎很漂亮，但法国的劳动法让人头疼。对于自由的企业家来说，伦敦可能是一个更容易定居的地方——尽管关于英国退欧后签证计划的运作方式有很多规定。

Where Britain has fallen down is in turning fledgling companies into listed world-beaters. Promising startups reach a certain stage of maturity only to hit a brick wall in terms of funding. They are still too small to be listed, so need private funds to grow. But by and large the bigger cheques are written by American venture-capital firms. Once the board is packed with Americans, it is natural for them to seek an American exit from their investment—either a sale to a bigger company or a listing on the Nasdaq. Many British entrepreneurs are resigned to selling to a foreign buyer.

英国的失败在于将羽翼未丰的公司转变为世界一流的上市公司。有前途的初创公司达到了一定的成熟阶段，却在融资方面碰壁。它们的规模仍然太小，无法上市，因此需要私人基金来成长。但总的来说，大额支票是由美国风险投资公司开出的。一旦董事会挤满了美国人，他们自然会寻求美国人退出他们的投资——要么出售给更大的公司，要么在纳斯达克上市。许多英国企业家只好把房子卖给外国买家。

A recent government-backed review, led by Ron Kalifa, a fintech entrepreneur, proposes a series of reforms to encourage British listings. They include changing London's listing rules to allow for dual classes of shares and smaller free-floats of stock—terms that are offered by New York and Hong Kong. There is also a proposal for a specialist growth-capital fund for pre-IPO businesses, backed by British asset managers. The goal is to turn a vicious cycle into a virtuous one, says Ms Glover. The more tech firms list in Britain, the more local analysts and asset managers will take an interest in them, encouraging further listings.

最近，由金融科技企业家罗恩·卡利法领导的一项政府支持的审查提出了一系列改革措施，以鼓励英国企业上市。其中包括改变伦敦的上市规则，允许实行双重股权结构，以及纽约和香港提供的规模较小的自由上市条款。还有一项提议是，在英国资产管理公司的支持下，为上市前的企业设立专门的增长资本基金。格洛弗表示，这样做的目的是将恶性循环转变为良性循环。在英国上市的科技公司越多，本土分析师和资产管理公司就会越对它们感兴趣，从而鼓励更多公司上市。

When Britain says it is "open for business", it is taken to mean that its most promising firms are available to be gobbled up by foreign bidders. If there were local alternatives to such deals, its public markets might begin to look more attractive. Decline might even be reversed. In any event, though, the gloom has gone far enough. The case against sterling assets is oversold.

当英国说自己“对商业开放”时，意思就是它最有前途的公司可以被外国竞购者吞并。如果这些交易有当地的替代方案，它的公开市场可能会开始看起来更有吸引力，衰退甚至可能逆转。无论如何，阴霾已经够严重了，反对英镑资产的理由是超卖。