英航与伊比利亚航空拟打造世界最大航空公司

飞雪寒冰

Willie Walsh, British Airways’s chief, and top Iberia executives have drawn up a list of 12 candidates to buy or merge with once their own tie-up is finalised in a plan that would create the world’s largest airline and shake-up the aviation world.



英国航空(British Airways)首席执行官威利•沃尔什(Willie Walsh)与西班牙伊比利亚航空公司(Iberia)的高管们起草了一份由12家公司构成的候选名单。一旦英航与伊比利亚航空完成合并，就将考虑展开对它们的收购，这项计划将打造出世界最大的航空公司，并撼动整个航空业。

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The 12 targets, pared back from an initial list of 40, includes budget airlines as well as larger full-service carriers in several countries, including fast-growing emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.


这12个候选收购目标是从最初40个目标缩减而来的，其中既包括廉价航空公司，也包括多个国家提供全面服务的大型航空公司。国家范围涵盖巴西、印度和中国等高速增长的新兴经济体。

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Not all 12 would be pursued, and foreign ownership restrictions in many countries would make it hard to buy some of those targeted. But “others would be possible almost immediately”, said Mr Walsh, who is set to move shortly to head a new company under the BA- Iberia merger called International Airlines Group, or IAG.


英航与伊比利亚航空不会对所有12个目标发起收购，而且许多国家存在的外资所有权限制会增加某些目标的收购难度。但沃尔什表示，“其它收购目标几乎可以立即实现”。沃尔什不久即将成为一家新公司的负责人，即由英航与伊比利亚航空合并组成的国际航空集团(International Airlines Group,IAG)。

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He will drive the combined group’s strategic direction, assuming the deal is completed by the end of this year as planned, and has already made clear that the new group would look at further consolidation.
假定合并协议能按计划在今年年底完成，沃尔什将为合并后的公司制定战略方向，他已经明确表示新集团将进一步寻求并购整合。

But this is the first time he has revealed that detailed discussions have been going on within BA and Iberia in recent months regarding the scope and nature of possible deals.
但这是他首次透露，近几个月来英航和伊比利亚航空内部一直在就潜在并购交易的范围和性质进行详细讨论。

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“We’ve looked at it initially with a view to full merger or acquisition rather than taking a minority investment in another airline,” he said.
“我们初步考虑完全并购，而不是收购另一家航空公司的少数股权，”他表示。

“The ambition is very clear that IAG will look to consolidate further,” he said in Mumbai, where he announced a deal with India’s Kingfisher Airlines, an addition to the Oneworld airline alliance in which BA is the leading European member, and BA’s first code-share with an Indian carrier.
“国际航空集团的志向非常明确，我们将寻求进一步整合，”他在孟买表示。在那里，他宣布英航与印度的翠鸟航空(Kingfisher Airlines)达成一项协议。翠鸟航空是寰宇一家(OneWorld)航空联盟的新成员，而英航是该联盟的欧洲主要成员，而这也是英航首次与印度的航空公司分享代码。

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While Mr Walsh refused to name airlines on his list and cautioned that no talks had begun with possible partners, Kingfisher will be seen as a likely target.
沃尔什拒绝透露候选名单上的公司名称，并警告称尚未与任何潜在合作伙伴展开谈判，但翠鸟航空似乎很可能是目标之一。

Another candidate is Chile’s LAN Airlines, although it has just announced that it plans to merge with Brazil’s TAM, making it a more difficult target to swallow.
另一家候选目标是智利的LAN Airlines，尽管该公司刚刚宣布计划与巴西塔姆航空公司(Tam)合并，使其成为更难吞并的收购目标。

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The leading Oneworld member, American Airlines, might also be a logical partner, except that the US restricts foreign ownership of airlines, as do many countries.
译者/管婧

Mr Walsh acknowledged the difficulties, but said he was confident ownership restrictions would be eased. There was also scope to get around them, he said, as BA had learnt during failed merger talks with Australia’s Qantas in 2008.