Whopper to go
至尊漢堡，打包帶走
Will Burger King be gobbled up by private equity?
漢堡王是否會(huì)被私人股本吞并？
Sep 2nd 2010 | NEW YORK
SHARES in Burger King (BK) soared on September 1st on reports that the fast-food company was talking to several private-equity firms interested in buying it. How much beef was behind these stories was unclear. But lately the company famous for the slogan “Have It Your Way” has certainly not been having it its own way. There may be arguments about whether BK or McDonald’s serves the best fries, but there is no doubt which is more popular with stockmarket investors: the maker of the Big Mac has supersized its lead in the past two years.
有報(bào)道披露，快餐企業(yè)漢堡王（BK）正在與數(shù)個(gè)有收購(gòu)意向的私人股本接洽，9月1日，漢堡王的股值隨之飆升。這些報(bào)道究竟有多少真材實(shí)料不得而知。漢堡王的著名口號(hào)是“我選我味”，但如今顯然它身不由己，心中五味雜陳。漢堡王和麥當(dāng)勞哪家薯?xiàng)l最好吃，食客們一直爭(zhēng)論不休，但股票投資人更喜歡哪家股票，卻一目了然：過去兩年里，巨無霸麥當(dāng)勞一直在擴(kuò)大自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)。
Recession has favoured McDonald’s over BK, whose share price has fallen by half since the economy was flame-grilled in the summer of 2008. Shares in McDonald’s have risen, reaching an all-time high in August. Same-store sales at BK have fallen for five successive quarters.
金融危機(jī)卻更青睞漢堡王，自2008年經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷以來，其股票價(jià)格跌至原來的一半。而麥當(dāng)勞的股票不跌反漲，在8月又創(chuàng)下了歷史新高。漢堡王的同店銷售額連續(xù)五個(gè)季度下跌。
Why has McDonald’s been eating BK’s lunch? Among other things, BK has always had a higher proportion of sales to young men, who have been hit especially hard by the recession. McDonald’s, by contrast, has for several years wooed women and older people with relatively healthy salads and drinkable coffee. BK has struggled to follow suit. At the same time, it has had to contend with angry shareholders, as the rising cost of beef and other ingredients has clobbered its profits. BK may also have cannibalised its existing sales by offering value meals that were a bit too irresistible.
為何麥當(dāng)勞在與漢堡王的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中占得先機(jī)？別的不談，漢堡王的顧客更多的是年輕人，而年輕人受金融危機(jī)打擊尤其嚴(yán)重。相對(duì)地，麥當(dāng)勞近年來一直以相對(duì)健康的沙拉和可口的咖啡，吸引女性和中老年人。漢堡王一直難以模仿。與此同時(shí)，隨著牛肉等原材料的成本上漲，利潤(rùn)一跌再跌，漢堡王又不得不去對(duì)付那些憤怒的股東。漢堡王的套餐太過誘人，可能也影響了其他產(chǎn)品的銷量。
BK is used to changes in ownership. It went from being part of Pillsbury, a food company, to Grand Metropolitan, a British conglomerate, then to Diageo, a drinks giant. In 2002 it was sold to a group of private-equity investors: TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs. They did a fair job, improving sales with better marketing. They also helped turn around the most troubled of the franchisees who operate most BK restaurants. In 2006 BK floated its shares again. Its bosses may hope that going private once more will protect them from short-term stockmarket pressures while they ponder how to beat McDonald’s.
漢堡王此前多次易主，已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常了。它曾是皮爾斯百利食品公司的一部分，后轉(zhuǎn)入英國(guó)大都會(huì)集團(tuán)，繼而轉(zhuǎn)投飲品巨頭帝亞吉?dú)W。2002年又被轉(zhuǎn)手賣給一批私人股本投資者：德克薩斯太平洋集團(tuán)（TPG），貝恩資本和高盛。他們經(jīng)營(yíng)良好，利用優(yōu)秀市場(chǎng)策略增加了銷售。大部分漢堡王餐廳的運(yùn)營(yíng)商當(dāng)時(shí)經(jīng)營(yíng)不善，他們還助其扭虧為盈。2006年漢堡王再度上市。其老板可能希望再度私有化以規(guī)避短期股市壓力，為其爭(zhēng)取時(shí)間定策擊敗麥當(dāng)勞。
If BK does go private, it may be part of a trend in the private-equity industry—now that some of the bigger firms have rediscovered their appetite for deals—of gobbling up the companies they had taken public during the bubble years but which are now trading cheaply. TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs still own a sizeable stake in BK, despite listing it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. However, it seems that other private-equity firms are interested in buying it. If that happens, no doubt BK servers will appreciate the irony: the act of passing a company from one private-equity firm to another is known in the business as “flipping”.
私人股本行業(yè)——如今一些大公司重新對(duì)收購(gòu)有了興趣——吞并那些他們?cè)诮?jīng)濟(jì)泡沫時(shí)代賣掉，現(xiàn)在十分廉價(jià)的公司，儼然已成一股大潮，如果漢堡王真的私有化，就將融入這股大潮之中。德克薩斯太平洋集團(tuán)（TPG），貝恩資本和高盛雖然2006年在紐約證券交易所已經(jīng)兜售了漢堡王，但他們?nèi)晕沼锌捎^的股份。然而，其他私人股本公司似乎也有意收購(gòu)。要是真被他們收購(gòu)，無疑漢堡王的服務(wù)生都能領(lǐng)會(huì)其中的諷刺：在私人股本公司中被倒賣，在做漢堡這行叫“翻面”。
