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Last month, brokers and private bankers in Hong Kong began contacting local clients to gauge their interest in a private capital-raising for Silicon Valley-based Palantir Technologies — an artificial intelligence group that is seeking a $25bn valuation.
上月，香港的经纪商和私人银行开始接触当地客户，看他们有多少兴趣参与硅谷公司Palantir Technologies的私募融资活动。这家人工智能(AI)集团正在寻求250亿美元的目标估值。
Qihoo 360 Technology, a Chinese internet company, recently abandoned its US listing and went private with a generous valuation of $9.3bn. Similarly, the finance arm of Chinese ecommerce group JD.com found itself able to raise $1bn in far less time than its local group of blue-chip investors anticipated.
不久前，中国互联网企业奇虎360科技有限公司(Qihoo 360 Technology)宣布将从美国退市，以93亿美元的高额估值进行私有化。同样，中国电商集团京东(JD.com)旗下的京东金融发现，其融资10亿美元所用时间远远低于国内那些蓝筹投资者所预计的时间。
“The offshore market and the public market were both nervous,” says one investor in the two Chinese transactions. “But we found there was no challenge to get the funding done. There is still a lot of capital in this region.”
“离岸市场和公开市场都感到担心，”一位参与了上述两起中国企业交易的投资者表示，“但我们发现，融资完成得毫不吃力。这一地区仍有大量资本。”
It seems that despite the fears of China bears, there are still big pools of money in the country — and an increasing part of that wealth comes from a new generation of family offices. Owned by the likes of Jack Ma, the founders of Tencent, and other tech billionaires, these offices have become an important source of capital and an early port of call for venture capitalists, hedge funds and private equity firms.
看起来，尽管看空中国者有各种担心，但目前中国仍存在大量的可用资金——其中来自新一代家族理财室的比例越来越高。由马云(Jack Ma)、腾讯(Tencent)创始人和其他科技界亿万富翁所拥有的这些家族理财室，已成为一个重要的资本来源，是风险资本家、对冲基金和私人股本公司早期融资的必到之处。
The financial clout of this Chinese family money is doubly important because of the declining role played by many sovereign wealth funds, which were the great source of rescue finance during the financial implosion in 2008. Nowadays, sovereign wealth funds have far less money to put to work — the sharp drop in oil prices has hit energy producing countries, and lower foreign exchange earnings have affected other countries’ sovereign wealth funds, including China’s.
中国家族资金的金融实力之所以具有突出重要性，还因为许多主权财富基金发挥的作用正在减弱。在2008年的金融危机期间，主权财富基金是主要的纾困资金来源。如今，主权财富基金所能调动的资金比以往少得多——油价暴跌冲击了产油国，而外汇收入的减少削弱了其他国家（包括中国）的主权财富基金。
Moreover, new pools of Chinese capital have become especially active in the private markets at a time when many US tech investors are becoming more cautious, amid worries about a potential bubble. Family office enthusiasm is helping to support the valuations not only of Qihoo and JD’s finance arm but other internet groups. Their role matters to the Chinese economy more broadly, too. Creating and supporting new jobs in tech and ecommerce is vital at a time when overcapacity in traditional sectors is leading to job losses and lower income for many workers.
此外，在美国的科技投资者因潜在泡沫引发担心而变得更谨慎之际，中国的大量新资金却在私募市场上变得尤为积极。家族理财室的热情不但帮助支撑了奇虎和京东金融的估值，也支撑了其他互联网集团的估值。这些资金对整个中国经济也很重要。当传统行业产能过剩导致许多工人丢掉工作或薪水降低之际，在科技和电商领域创造并支撑新增就业，具有至关重要的作用。
These Chinese tech family offices are still at an early stage of development. But they control tens of billions of dollars and are often more sophisticated than the fund managers who hope to help them invest their growing piles of money. In some cases, they resemble the US robber baron families of an earlier century, because they combine an aggressive, monopolistic drive for financial success with a desire to engage in philanthropy and leave the world a better place.
这些中国科技界富豪拥有的家族理财室仍处于早期发展阶段。但是，他们控制着数百亿美元的资金，并且往往比那些希望帮助他们把日益增加的财富投出去的基金管理公司更复杂。在某些情况下，他们就像一个多世纪之前的美国“强盗贵族”(robber baron)，一方面积极地以垄断手法追求金钱上的成功，另一方面又希望从事慈善事业，让世界变得更美好。
To be sure, family offices have always been part of the landscape in Asia, particularly among the overseas Chinese network. But, in the past, most of the money was made in real estate and shipping. It came from families such as the Lee family of Henderson Land or the Pao family, which founded Wharf, or the founders of Nan Fung, which started out in manufacturing and shifted into property. This older generation of family offices got involved in everything from helping to raise money, to negotiating with kidnappers when clients’ children were held for ransom, to selecting race horses. They also advised on the purchase of yachts and helped to hide money in tax havens before regulators made that far more difficult.
毫无疑问，家族理财室一直是亚洲商业格局中的组成部分，尤其是在海外华人家族网络当中。但在过去，他们的大部分财富是在房地产和航运领域赚到的。家族理财室的资金所来自的家族，有恒基兆业地产(Henderson Land)的李氏家族、创立九龙仓(Wharf)的包氏家族、以及从制造业起家然后进入房地产业的南丰(Nan Fung)创始人家族，等等。老一代家族理财室的业务包罗万象，从帮助客户融资到在客户子女遭绑架与索要赎金的绑匪谈判，再到挑选赛马。它们也在购买游艇方面提供咨询意见，并帮助客户把财富藏到避税地去，直到后来监管机构让这种操作的实现难度大大增加。
Of the new generation of family offices, the most substantial is Blue Pool Capital in Hong Kong, which represents part of the wealth of Mr Ma and a greater part of the almost $7bn value of his partner Joe Tsai. Mr Ma also uses other vehicles, including his Yunfeng Capital, and a new family office that takes up an entire floor of a Hong Kong office tower.
在新一代家族理财室当中，资产管理规模最为可观的是香港的Blue Pool Capital——马云将部分财富投了进去，马云的合伙人蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)也将其近70亿美元身家的一大部分投了进去。马云还使用了其他工具，包括他旗下的云峰基金(Yunfeng Capital)以及在香港一处写字楼占据整整一层的一家新的家族理财室。
It is not always clear with some of the tech billionaires what goes into their family offices and what goes into their public companies. The conflicts can be especially sharp since often the family office is an extension of the public company rather than an effort to diversify away from the core business.
对于部分科技亿万富翁而言，把哪些业务放进了家族理财室，又把哪些业务放入了旗下公众公司，并非总是一目了然的。两者之间的利益冲突可能会非常激烈，因为家族理财室经常是公众公司的延伸，而非旨在实现核心业务以外的多元化拓展。
It is also not clear whether the drop in US tech valuations will eventually be transmitted across the Pacific. But the new deep pockets of Asia may well prove willing to pay more for new economy companies than their Silicon Valley counterparts. It would reflect their confidence that there is more growth on their side of the world.
美国科技企业估值降低的局面是否将最终传导至太平洋这一端的亚洲，目前也是个未知数。但是，事实很可能会证明，亚洲新出现的巨额财富拥有者，愿意为代表新经济的公司支付比硅谷同行的出价更高的价格。这将表明他们对于亚洲有更大增长潜力的信心。
