BEC中級閱讀熱點新聞精選：(23)中國的“鋼鐵公主”
作為中國最富有的女性之一，陳寧寧(Diana Chen)并不是人們印象中典型的鋼鐵大王。
Diana Chen, one of China’s richest women, is not your typical iron industry baron.
陳寧寧今年36歲，是受過西方教育的“高干子弟”她已故的外祖父呂東曾于上世紀60年代和70年代擔任原冶金工業(yè)部部長。
Ms Chen, 36, is a Western-educated “princeling”, as the children and grandchildren of China’s communist elite are known. Her late grandfather, Lu Dong, was China’s metallurgy minister in the 1960s and 1970s.
今年夏天，陳寧寧對香港上市的中國東方集團(China Oriental Group)發(fā)起了敵意收購。此前，她與持有東方集團45%股權的主席韓敬遠鬧翻。東方集團控制著湖北省一座中等規(guī)模的鋼鐵廠。
This summer, Ms Chen launched a hostile takeover for Hong Kong-listed China Oriental Group, which controls a mid-sized steel mill in Hebei province. Her bid came after a falling out with Han Jingyuan, Oriental’s chairman, who controls 45 per cent of the company.
在由陳寧寧外祖父等保守派中央計劃官員打造出的鋼鐵產業(yè)中，這種舉動頗不尋常。但這位中國“鋼鐵公主”的職業(yè)路徑就頗不尋常。
Such manoeuvres are unusual in an industry forged by conservative central planners such as Ms Chen’s grandfather. But then so is the career path of China’s “iron princess”.
上世紀90年代早期，陳寧寧到紐約理工學院(New York Institute of Technology)攻讀MBA學位，畢業(yè)后回香港與母親一同創(chuàng)辦了嘉鑫鋼鐵集團有限公司(Pioneer Iron & Steel Group)。她的母親在大學期間曾學習冶金專業(yè)，但此前從未涉足該行業(yè)。在此后短短10年時間，嘉鑫鋼鐵成為中國最大的鐵礦石民營進口商。去年，《福布斯》雜志(Forbes)估計，陳寧寧個人財富高達2.16億美元。
In the early 1990s, Ms Chen studied for an MBA degree at the New York Institute of Technology before returning to Hong Kong to start Pioneer Iron & Steel Group with her mother, who had studied metallurgy in university but was not previously involved in the industry. In little more than a decade since, Pioneer has become one of the largest private importers of iron ore into China. Last year Forbes magazine estimated Ms Chen’s wealth at $216m.
“這其實就是通過非傳統(tǒng)手段進入一個傳統(tǒng)行業(yè)，”陳寧寧表示，“從前，所有人都從事簡單的貿易。我們利用無形資產和技術幫助(武漢鋼鐵集團和鞍鋼新軋等國有企業(yè))獲得貸款，并對其進行改造，準備進行首次公開發(fā)行(IPO)。”
“It was a matter of using non-traditional means to approach a traditional industry,” Ms Chen says. “Before, everyone just did simple trading. We used intangible assets and skills to help [state-owned companies such as Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, and Angang New Steel Company] get loans and to reform themselves to prepare for IPOs.”
陳寧寧表示，這些服務都是免費提供的，但它們有助于建立關系，并使她對這些公司有了深入了解。到世紀交替之際，鋼鐵行業(yè)開始在中國經濟發(fā)展的推動下復蘇，當時，嘉鑫處在將中國鋼鐵制造商與外國鐵礦企業(yè)結合的良好位置。她表示：“到2003年，中國大約15%至20%的鐵礦石由我們進口。”
Those services were provided free of charge, says Ms Chen, but they helped build relationships and gave her an in-depth knowledge of the companies. By the turn of the century, when the steel industry revived on the back of China’s economic growth, Pioneer was well-positioned to bring together China’s steel makers and foreign iron miners. “By 2003, we were importing about 15-20 per cent of China’s iron ore,” she says.
陳寧寧承認，作為中國******高層官員的后代，身份對她有所幫助，“但只是人們知道你來自一個有名望的家庭。我的外祖父從沒貪污過，我母親經常教導我不要令我外祖父的名聲蒙羞……我有關系，但我從沒用過。”
Ms Chen admits that being the descendant of a top communist official has helped, “but only in the sense that people knew you came from a respectable family. My grandfather was never corrupt, and my mother always told me not to shame my grandfather’s name?.?.?.?I had the guanxi [connections], but I never used them.”
