英文原文链接／source language:
https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/02/activist-investors-go-after-a-german-industrial-icon
Steeling itself
浴火重生
Activist investors go after a German industrial icon
活跃投资者瞄准德国工业巨头
The aim is to thoroughly shake up the last of the country’s unreformed conglomerates
目的是彻底整顿该国最后一个传统集团
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Print edition | Business
May 31st 2018
FEW industrial scenes offer the dramaof a steelworks in full flow. Perched high in a cabin, a technician guides a bucket the size of a house to send 250 tons of lava-like molten metal into a vast crucible. As a roar echoes across a gargantuan hall, a pile of scrap slides into the mixture. Plumes of illuminated smoke rise. Sparks like giant fireflies tumble down. ThyssenKrupp’s steelmaking plant in Duisburg makes 30,000 tons of the metal daily.
没几个重工作业现场能呈现出这么完整的炼钢场景了。一名技工在高处控制室内操控一个房子大小的桶状容器，将250吨熔岩状金属溶液注入一个巨型坩埚内。随着这个超级车间内响起的一阵轰鸣，一堆废料被倾倒入混合料中。明晃晃的烟缕升腾起来，而像巨型萤火虫一样的火花砸到地面上。蒂森克虏伯位于德国杜伊斯堡的炼钢厂每天生产3万吨金属。
The firm itself is going through an industrial drama, after years of ailing. Its boss, Heinrich Hiesinger, was seen as its saviour after arriving from Siemens late in 2010. But swiftness is not his forte: a colleague says he talks of “diligence before speed”. He did rid the firm of loss-making steel plants, such as assets in the Americas that cost €8bn ($9.3bn) in write-downs. Yet he has not reformed a top-heavycompany.
而这家企业本身在多年业绩不佳的状况下，正经历着一场产业变革。企业现任首席执行官海里希·赫辛根（HeinrichHiesinger）在2010年年底离任西门子入职这里时，被视为救星。但速度并不是他的强项：一位同事说他认为“埋头苦干比追求速度重要”。他的确让该企业摆脱了几家亏损的钢铁厂，比如让公司帐面减值80亿欧元（合93亿美元）的美洲资产。但是他还是没有改造好这一家管理层人员冗杂的公司。
Several bits of the group—a hotch-potch that includes submarine-, ship- and lift-building, auto supplies and a unit for constructing entire factories—underperform their peers. Notwithstanding some bright areas, such as lifts (see chart), overall operating margins are just 3.5%, after years of failed promises by managers to match the market average for European peers of 7%. All divisions are guided by a powerful head office in Essen that is said to guzzle an extraordinary 30% of total profits. ThyssenKrupp’s share price badly lags behind Germany’s largest listed firms. Meanwhile, Siemens, Bayer and others have broken off subsidiary units and simplified structures. This “is the last man standing” says an observer, asking what makers of lifts and submarines have in common.
这个集团企业的几个事业部，包括潜艇、船舶、电梯、汽车配件以及一个可以建造整家工厂的事业部——业绩都低于同业水平。尽管有些表现尚可，比如电梯（见图表），整体经营毛利也只有3.5％，多年来部门管理者说要追赶欧洲同行平均水平7%的承诺也一直没有兑现。该企业所有部门都由集团颇具影响力的埃森总部领导，据说总部占取集团总利润的比重高达30％。蒂森克虏伯的股价也大大落后于德国其它大型上市公司。与此同时，西门子、拜耳等企业都砍掉了各自的附庸单元，精简了企业结构。一位观察员说这“是最后一个站着的巨头”，疑惑于电梯和潜艇制造商之间有什么共性。
Two big changes loom, as activist investors demand reform. One is the end of steel, which provides two-fifths of revenues. The firm has agreed with Tata, an Indian maker, to bundle their European steel assets into a joint venture. The idea is to reduce steelmaking capacity and for ThyssenKrupp to pass on pension liabilities. Yet the Tata deal, announced in September, has dragged. ThyssenKrupp partly blames months of delays on Brexit (Tata faces uncertainty over its operations in Port Talbot, in Wales) and on a new boss at Tata. A signing ceremony is due this month.
如今因为活跃投资者要求改革，两大变化正在显现。首先在于创造企业五分之二营收的钢铁端。蒂森克虏伯已和印度（工业）制造商塔塔（Tata）达成协议，将两家企业的欧洲钢铁资产并为合资企业，愿景是减少炼钢业产能，而蒂森克虏伯也能转移其退休员工养老金负债问题。然而，宣布于去年9月与塔塔的交易拖滞了。蒂森克虏伯将数月拖延归咎于英国脱欧（塔塔在英国威尔士泰尔博特（Talbot）港的运营环境不明朗），还有塔塔的易主。这两家企业的签字仪式原定于本月。
The second, bigger question is how to revive the firm’s industrial activities. Mr Hiesinger says he has bright ideas for change, but will not spill them until the deal with Tata is signed. He talks up the activities of high-end engineering units, notably the lift business. Yet analysts say even the better-performing units suffer under a heavy superstructure. As a stand-alone firm, liftmaking, which is far more profitable than the firm’s other divisions, could be worth more than the entire conglomerate’s market capitalisation of €14.5bn, argues one observer. Managers still trot out20th-century-style defences of conglomerates. They say units can share bright ideas and technology, citing a nifty idea for a horizontal motorised lift that came from the railways team. Yet more autonomous units, or outright independent firms, would be most open to innovation.
第二个更大的问题在于如何重振公司的工业部门。赫辛根先生称他有 很好的变革想法，但在与塔塔签署协议之前不会泄漏。他看重高端工程事业部，特别是电梯业务。然而分析师认为即便是表现较好的事业部也不堪管理层之冗重。一位观察员称，蒂森克虏伯的电梯制造事业部作为一家独立企业，其利润空间远大于集团其它事业部，其价值可能比整个集团公司145亿欧元的市值还要高。而企业管理层还在炫耀这个巨头20世纪的军防风采，他们说集团各事业部之间可以共享好的想法和技术，比如可平移电动升降电梯的创意就来自企业铁道团队。更多自主事业部或者完全独立的集团子公司也都会对创新持开放态度。
Cevian, an activist shareholder of long standing which owns 18% of ThyssenKrupp, is demanding “fundamental reorganisation” of industrial activities, scrapping Mr Hiesinger’s centralised structure. Cevian is relatively friendly to managers; a sharper spur to action is Elliott, the world’s largest activist hedge fund, which has just bought a stake. Both may have some quiet support from unions and from the Krupp family foundation, in Essen, which has the dominant stake. ThyssenKrupp’s shares leapt after news of Elliott’s arrival: the hope is for big changes this summer.
拥有蒂森克虏伯18％股权的长期活跃股东Cevian要求企业对工业部门进行“深层重组”，废弃赫辛根先生的集中制结构。Cevian对企业管理层还算比较友好，在敦促行动上更为尖锐的刺激来自Elliott，这家全球最大的活跃型对冲基金公司刚刚入股蒂森克虏伯。两大股东可能都获得了工会和克虏伯家族基金会的默许支持，克虏伯家族基金会位于德国埃森，并主导性控股蒂森克虏伯。蒂森克虏伯的股价在Elliott入股新闻后也一度攀升：今年夏天，巨变在望。