shìjiàn: wēn >wēn shì >shì jiā >jiāzú >zúyǔ >yǔpíng >píng'ān >ānjué >juéqǐ >qǐ Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family
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zhōng guó shēn zhèn héng héng yà zhōu jīn róng wēi jī guò hòu， yī jiā bǎo xiǎn gōng sī xiàn rù cái wù kùn jìng， qí fù zé rén quàn shuō zhōng guó lǐng dǎo rén fàng sōng yào qiú chāi fēn gāi gōng sī de guī dìng。
1999 nián qiū， guān yuán men bèi gào zhī， píng 'ān bǎo xiǎn (PingAnInsurance) de shēng cún wēi zài dàn xī。 shí rèn fù zǒng lǐ de wēn jiā bǎo hé zhōng guó yāng xíng xíng cháng dū zhí jiē shōu dào liǎo xiāng guān qǐng qiú。 zhè liǎng míng wèi gāo quán zhòng de guān yuán dōuduì píng 'ān suǒ zài hángyè yòu jiān guǎn quán。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè liǎo píng 'ān dǒng shì cháng mǎ míng zhé xiě gěi wēn jiā bǎo de yī fēng xìn。 mǎ míng zhé zài xìn zhōng qǐng qiú dào， “ kěn qǐng wēn fù zǒng lǐ cóng gèng gāo de céng cì yú yǐ lǐng dǎo hé xié diào。 ”
hòu lái píng 'ān méi bèi chāi fēn。
shì shí zhèng míng， nǔ lì yóushuì qǔ dé de chéng guǒ shì fēi cháng jù dà de。
píng 'ān hòu lái chéng liǎo zhōng guó zuì dà de jīn róng fú wù gōng sī zhī yī， yǐ 500 yì měi yuán（ yuē hé 3113 yì yuán rén mín bì） de shēn jià lǐng xiān yú měi guó guó jì jí tuán (AIG)、 dà dū huì rén shòu (MetLife) hé bǎo chéng jí tuán (Prudential)。 ér zài mù hòu， wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ dé dào liǎo píng 'ān de gǔ fèn。 yī dàn píng 'ān shí lì huí dàn， zhè xiē gǔ fèn jiāng huì jià zhí jǐ shí yì měi yuán。
běn bào shàng yuè bào dào， zài wēn jiā bǎo zì 2003 nián chū rèn zǒng lǐ hòu de rèn qī nèi， tā de qīn shǔ biàn dé fēi cháng fù yòu， huò dé liǎo lǚ yóu dù jiǎ cūn、 yínháng、 zhū bǎo gōng sī、 diàn xìn qǐ yè yǐ jí qí tā qǐ yè de gǔ fèn。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 de diào chá fā xiàn， jié zhì mù qián wéi zhǐ， tā men cái fù de zuì dà lái yuán shì píng 'ān de gǔ fèn。 zài píng 'ān qǔ dé huò miǎn bù shòu dà xíng jīn róng qǐ yè yìng jìn xíng chāi fēn zhè xiàng guī dìng de yǐng xiǎng yuē bā gè yuè hòu， tā men mǎi jìn liǎo píng 'ān de gǔ fèn。
jiān guǎn jì lù hé gōng sī jì lù xiǎn shì， yuǎn zài dà duō shù tóu zī zhě néng gòu mǎi píng 'ān de gǔ piào zhī qián， yī jiā míng wéi tài hóng (Taihong) de gōng sī biàn tōng guò zǎo qián zài píng 'ān chí yòu gǔ fèn de guó yòu qǐ yè huò dé liǎo píng 'ān de dà zōng gǔ quán。 bù jiǔ hòu， tài hóng biàn bèi wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ kòng zhì liǎo。 bù guǎn zěn me kàn， gāi gōng sī zài zhè bǐ jiāo yì zhōng huò lì pō fēng。 jù cǎi fǎng hé gōng kāi wén jiàn xiǎn shì， tài hóng 2002 nián 12 yuè gòu mǎi píng 'ān gǔ fèn shí de jià gé shì lìng yī jiā dà xíng tóu zī zhě yīng guó yínháng huì fēng kòng gǔ (HSBCHoldings) liǎng gè yuè qián de gòu mǎi jià gé de sì fēn zhī yī。
jié zhì 2004 nián 6 yuè， jí biàn zài píng 'ān yú xiāng gǎng zhèng quàn jiāo yì suǒ (HongKongStockExchange) shàng shì zhī qián， wēn jiā bǎo qīn shǔ suǒ chí gǔ fèn de jià zhí yǐ shì sì bèi yú cóng qián。 jié zhì 2007 nián， tài hóng zuì chū nà 6500 wàn měi yuán de tóu zī yǐ jià zhí 37 yì měi yuán。
gōng sī jì lù xiǎn shì， wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ tōng guò nà bǐ tóu zī huò dé de lì yì jí yòu kě néng zài 2007 nián nián dǐ dá dào 22 yì měi yuán de fēng zhí。 2007 nián shì tài hóng zuò wéi gǔ dōng de jì lù gōng kāi kě chá de zuì hòu yī nián。 yīn wéi tài hóng bù zài chū xiàn zài píng 'ān de gōng kāi wén jiàn zhōng， mù qián shàng bù qīng chǔ wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ shì fǒu jì xù chí yòu píng 'ān de gǔ fèn。
tóng yàng wú fǎ huò zhī de shì， wēn jiā bǎo hé shí rèn yāng xíng xíng cháng dài xiāng lóng shì fǒu qīn zì jiè rù， pī fù liǎo píng 'ān bù yào chāi fēn gāi gōng sī de shēn qǐng， yǐ jí wēn jiā bǎo duì zì jǐ qīn shǔ chí yòu de gǔ fèn shì fǒu zhī xiǎo。
dàn píng 'ān de nèi bù wén jiàn、 zhèng fǔ wén jiàn yǐ jí tóng yínháng jiā hé píng 'ān qián gāo guǎn de cǎi fǎng biǎo míng， zài cān jiā liǎo xiāng guān huì yì de jiān guǎn bù mén zhōng， fù zǒng lǐ bàn gōng shì hé yāng xíng dū míng liè qí zhōng， qiě dōuyòu quán pī zhǔn bù chāi fēn píng 'ān。
wén jiàn xiǎn shì， zhǐ yòu liǎng jiā dà xíng guó yòu jīn róng jī gòu dé dào liǎo lèi sì de pī zhǔn， miǎn yú bèi chāi fēn， ér sān jiā dà xíng guó yòu bǎo xiǎn gōng sī dōubèi pò jìn xíng liǎo chāi fēn。 zhōng guó de xǔ duō dà xíng yín xíng dū 'àn zhào chāi fēn yào qiú， chū shòu liǎo zài qí tā jī gòu de zī chǎn。 duì dà xíng jīn róng jī gòu jìn xíng chāi fēn de guī dìng shì jīn róng wēi jī hòu chū yú duì jīn róng tǐ xì wěn dìng xìng de dān yōu 'ér shí xíng de。
píng 'ān xiàng《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 fā liǎo yī fèn shēng míng， chēng gōng sī yán gé zūn shǒu fǎ lǜ fǎ guī， bù guò bìng bù zhī xiǎo gǔ dōng bèi hòu de suǒ yòu jī gòu de bèi jǐng。 píng 'ān hái biǎo shì：“ gǔ dōng zhī jiān de rèn hé gǔ quán zhuǎn ràng shì gǔ dōng de zhèng dāng quán lì。”
zhōng guó wài jiāo bù méi yòu huí fù qǐng qí wéi běn wén zhì píng de diàn huà。 zǎo xiē shí hòu， wài jiāo bù de yī míng fā yán rén yán lì pī píng liǎo běn bào duì wēn jiā bǎo jiā shǔ de cái wù zhuàng kuàng suǒ zuò de diào chá， chēng“ yòu guān méi tǐ de bào dào mǒ hēi zhōng guó， bié yòu yòng xīn”。
běn bào shàng yuè bào dào liǎo zǒng lǐ jiā zú de cái fù hòu， dài biǎo wēn jiā bǎo jiā zú de lǜ shī chēng běn bào wén zhāng zhōng yòu wèi zhǐ míng de cuò wù qiě wēn shì jiā zú bǎo liú cǎi qǔ fǎ lǜ cuò shī de quán lì。
cǐ wài， zhōng guó zhèng fǔ píng bì liǎo zhōng guó dà lù duì《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 zhōng yīng wén wǎng zhàn de fǎng wèn， chēng cǎi qǔ gāi xíng dòng“ fú hé fǎ lǜ hé fǎ guī”。 mù qián， duì běn bào zhōng yīng wén wǎng zhàn de píng bì réng zài jì xù。
běn bào wú fǎ hé wēn jiā bǎo huò dài xiāng lóng qǔ dé lián xì yǐ qiú zhì píng。 yù jì wēn jiā bǎo jiāng yú míng nián 3 yuè tuì xiū。 ér dài xiāng lóng xiàn zài shì quán guó shè huì bǎo zhàng jī jīn lǐ shì huì lǐ shì cháng。
cānyù liǎo píng 'ān 2004 nián xiāng gǎng shàng shì， jí qí hòu lái 2007 nián shàng hǎi shàng shì de zhōng wài yínháng jiā hé lǜ shī chēng， tā men dāng shí bìng bù zhī dào wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ huò dé liǎo gāi gōng sī de dà liàng gǔ fèn。
mó gēn shì dān lì (MorganStanley) hé gāo shèng (GoldmanSachs) céng chí yòu dà liàng de píng 'ān gǔ fèn， bìng zài píng 'ān yú xiāng gǎng shǒu cì gōng kāi mù gǔ shí， zuò wéi zhù chéng xiāo shāng。 liǎng jiā gōng sī de gāo guǎn yě biǎo shì， cóng wèi bèi gào zhī wēn jiā rén de chí gǔ qíng kuàng。 zài píng 'ān de dūn cù xià， zhè liǎng jiā tóu zī yínháng yě zài 2000 nián xiàng wēn jiā bǎo jí qí tā jiān guǎn zhě tí chū qǐng qiú， bù yào 'àn zhào guī dìng chāi fēn píng 'ān。 2005 nián， liǎng jiā tóu xíng de sī mù gǔ quán róng zī bù mén bǎ tā men chí yòu de píng 'ān gǔ fèn yǐ yī qǐ mài gěi huì fēng yínháng。 chū shòu jià yuē wéi 10 yì měi yuán， bǐ tā men zuì chū tóu zī shàng zhǎng liǎo 14 bèi。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè de jǐ qiān yè gōng kāi gōng sī wén jiàn xiǎn shì， wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ bìng wèi zhí jiē yǐ tā men zì jǐ de míng yì chí yòu píng 'ān gǔ fèn， ér shì yòng yī céng yòu yī céng yǐn bì de hé huǒ rén guān xì yǎn gài liǎo tā men de chí gǔ zhuàng kuàng。
zài shàng gè yuè de yī cì fǎng tán zhōng， wēn jiā de yī wèi fù shāng péng yǒu duàn wěi hóng chēng， qí shí shì tā chí yòu nà bù fēn píng 'ān gǔ fèn， ér wēn jiā bǎo qīn shǔ chū xiàn zài chí gǔ jì lù shàng， zhǐ shì yī gè yì wài。 zhè gè guò chéng bāo kuò jiè yòng tā men de shēn fèn zhèng jiàn， bìng qǔ dé tā men de qiān míng。
duì yú pī lù yǔ shàng shì gōng sī yùn yíng zhí jiē xiāng guān de jī běn gōng sī xìn xī， zhōng guó dà lù hé xiāng gǎng dì qū dōuyòu xiáng xì de fǎ guī。 zhè xiē xìn xī bāo kuò dà gǔ dōng de shēn fèn， yǐ jí chí yòu dà liàng gǔ fèn de gōng sī shì fǒu wéi guān lián fāng děng děng。 dàn shì fǎ lǜ zhuān jiā chēng， zhè xiē fǎ guī de zhí xíng lì dù yī bān dōuhěn ruò， zhè diǎn zài dà lù dì qū yóu shèn。 tā men shuō， yě yòu yī zhǒng míng yì gǔ dōng de xí guàn zuò fǎ， yì jí yóu mǒu rén dài biǎo lìng wài yī gè rén chí gǔ。 zài zhè zhǒng qíng kuàng xià， shèn zhì zuì yòu jīng yàn de lǜ shī hé huì jì shī dōuwú fǎ yī kuī jiū jìng。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 bìng wèi fā xiàn yòu jì xiàng xiǎn shì， zhè fāng miàn de fǎ guī huò rèn hé qí tā fǎ lǜ bèi wéi fǎn， yě wèi zhǎo dào rèn hé zhèng jù zhèng míng wēn jiā bǎo yǐ běn rén míng yì chí yòu píng 'ān gǔ fèn。
zài yán jiū guò《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 tí chū de wèn tí hòu， xiāng gǎng zhèng quàn jí qī huò shì wù jiān chá wěi yuán huì (SecuritiesandFuturesCommissionofHongKong) jí xiāng gǎng zhèng quàn jiāo yì suǒ jù jué fā biǎo píng lùn。 běi jīng de zhōng guó zhèng quàn jiān dū guǎn lǐ wěi yuán huì zé bìng wèi huí yìng zhì xún。
píng 'ān xiàn zài zuì dà de gǔ dōng、 chí yòu 15.5% píng 'ān gǔ fèn de huì fēng yínháng， yě jù jué fā biǎo píng lùn。 huì fēng yínháng shàng zhōu xuān bù， zuò wéi qí guǎng fàn chóu zī huó dòng de yī bù fēn， zhèng zài kǎo lǜ chū shòu zì jǐ chí yòu de píng 'ān gǔ fèn。
rú jīn， píng 'ān shì yī gè chéng gōng de dà jí tuán， qù nián de yíng shōu wéi 400 yì měi yuán， zài zhōng guó yòu yuē 50 wàn míng bǎo xiǎn xiāo shòu yuán。 tā shì zhōng guó wéi yī de wán quán yī tǐ huà de jīn róng jī gòu， yōng yòu zhōng guó dì 'èr dà de bǎo xiǎn gōng sī、 yī jiā xìn tuō gōng sī hé yī jiā zhèng quàn gōng sī。
2010 nián mò， píng 'ān jìn yī bù zēng qiáng lì liàng， xuān bù liǎo yī gè 40 yì měi yuán de jiāo yì， bìng cóng cǐ kòng zhì liǎo zhōng guó zhōng xíng shāng yè yínháng zhī yī， shēn zhèn fā zhǎn yínháng。 xiàn zài， píng 'ān zhèng zài shēn zhèn xiū jiàn yī gè xīn de gōng sī zǒng bù， yī dòng 115 céng de zhuàng guān bàn gōng lóu。 gāi dà lóu yóu niǔ yuē jiàn zhù gōng sī KPF jiàn zhù shè jì suǒ (KohnPedersenFox) suǒ shè jì。
chàdiǎn bèi chāi fēn
gāo zhōng bì yè shēng chū shēn de píng 'ān dǒng shì cháng、 shǒu xí zhí xíng guān mǎ míng zhé， zuì chū shì yuán gēng de zhù shǒu。 yuán gēng shì zhōng guó zuì zǎo de yī xiē jīng jì gǎi gé zhōng de xiān qū zhě， yě shì píng 'ān bǎo xiǎn de zǎo qī lǐng dǎo zhě。
yuán gēng xīn shǎng mǎ míng zhé de cōng míng cáigàn， yīn 'ér ràng tā fù zé yī gè yóu guó jiā guǎn lǐ de gōng yè yuán de rén shì gōng zuò， bìng zuì zhōng ràng tā fù zé xīn chéng lì de píng 'ān bǎo xiǎn gōng sī。 píng 'ān bǎo xiǎn zài xīn xīng hǎi bīn chéng shì shēn zhèn shēng gēn fā yá。
mǎ míng zhé de shí jī hěn hǎo。 nà shí zhōng guó gāng gāng kāi shǐ zhòng gòu qí guó jiā zhù dǎo de jīng jì tǐ xì。 zhèng fǔ kāi shǐ dǎ pò gòng chǎn dǎng gànbù zài yǎng lǎo jīn、 shè bǎo hé zhù fáng bǎo zhàng shàng de tiě fàn wǎn。
jìn guǎn píng 'ān chuàng lì zhī chū shì guó qǐ， què shì shǒu pī shí yàn xī fāng guǎn lǐ mó shì de zhōng guó bǎo xiǎn gōng sī zhī yī， bāo kuò pìn yòng bǎo xiǎn yè wù jīng suàn shī， kāi zhǎn hòu tái yùn yíng gōng zuò， jí yǐn rù wài guó gǔ dōng。
1988 nián， píng 'ān chéng lì。 mǎ míng zhé fù zé xié zhù guǎn lǐ zhè jiā xiǎo gōng sī。 jǐ nián hòu， tā wéi gōng sī xún mì měi guó de zhī míng gǔ dōng。
1994 nián， mó gēn shì dān lì hé gāo shèng de sī mù gǔ quán róng zī bù mén gè zì chū zī yuē 3500 wàn měi jīn， gòu mǎi liǎo 7.5% de píng 'ān gǔ fèn。 zài dāng shí， zhè shì yī jiā zhōng guó jīn róng jī gòu shōu dào de zuì dà yī bǐ wài shāng tóu zī。
píng 'ān zuì chū de chéng gōng dà duō guī gōng yú mǎ míng zhé。 mǎ míng zhé shì gè chōng mǎn chòngjìn de gāo guǎn， yīn qí guǎn lǐ jì qiǎo、 zhèng zhì jì qiǎo jí mào xiǎn jīng shén 'ér shòu dào tuī chóng。
“ tā jù bèi yī gè wěi dà qǐ yè jiā de suǒ yòu tè zhì，” céng zài 20 shì jì 90 nián dài cānyù guǎn lǐ píng 'ān shàng hǎi fēn gōng sī de yán fēng chēng，“ tā xué xí néng lì hěn qiáng， zhī dào zěn me shì yìng xīn xíng shì， ér qiě zuò shì hěn yòu jué xīn。 wèile shí xiàn mù biāo bù xī yī qiē dài jià。”
dàn 1997 nián bào fā de yà zhōu jīn róng wēi jī bō jí dào zhōng guó hòu， zhōng guó jīng jì zài 20 shì jì 90 nián dài mò zǒu ruǎn， gāi gōng sī de zēngzhǎng dòng lì yù dào liǎo wèn tí。
yōng zhǒng de guó yòu qǐ yè kāi shǐ bēng kuì， dào liǎo 1998 nián， zhōng guó yī xiē zuì dà de guó yòu yínháng jǐ jìn pò chǎn。
píng 'ān xīn kǔ dé lái de cái fù yě kāi shǐ bù duàn zhēng fā。 hé zhōng guó dà duō shù dà xíng bǎo xiǎn gōng sī yī yàng， píng 'ān shì lì yòng kě yǐ bǎo zhèng dà bǐ shōu yì de cháng qī tóu zī chǎn pǐn lái yíng qǔ xīn kè hù， zhè xiē shōu yì shì lì yòng yín xíng zài tōng zhàng shí qī wéi cún kuǎn tí gōng de gāo 'é lìlǜ lái huò dé de。 20 shì jì 90 nián dài zhōng qī， yínháng lìlǜ bào diē， gāi gōng sī yě sǔn shī cǎn zhòng。
1999 nián， píng 'ān de gāo guǎn kāi shǐ chéng rèn， gāi gōng sī chǔyú pò chǎn biān yuán。 zuò wéi yī jiā lián hé kòng gǔ de gǔ fèn gōng sī， píng 'ān yōng yòu hěn duō dà xíng jī gòu tóu zī zhě， qí zhōng dà bù fēn dōushì guó yòu qǐ yè。 dàn hěn duō zhè xiē gōng sī dū jù jué tōng guò gòu mǎi gèng duō gǔ fèn， wéi píng 'ān tí gōng xū yào de zī běn jīn lái jìn xíng jiù zhù。
píng 'ān yī míng qián gāo guǎn zài yào qiú nì míng de qián tí xià tòu lù，“ dāng shí dà jiādōu bù què dìng píng 'ān néng bù néng jì xù xià qù， yǐ hòu huì zěn me yàng。”
cǐ wài， lái zì zhèng fǔ de yā lì yě zài bù duàn zēng dà。 yīn wéi dān xīn jīn róng tǐ xì cún zài de xì tǒng xìng fēng xiǎn， běi jīng de jiān guǎn jī guān jiā dà zhí fǎ lì dù， yào qiú jīn róng jī gòu xiàn zhì jīng yíng huó dòng de fàn wéi。
yínháng bèi gào zhī yào chū shòu zhèng quàn gōng sī huò xìn tuō gōng sī de gǔ fèn； bǎo xiǎn gōng sī zé bì xū zài rén shòu bǎo xiǎn hé cái chǎn bǎo xiǎn zhī jiān zuò xuǎn zé， ér bù zài tóng shí jīng yíng liǎng zhě。
1998 nián zhōng guó xīn de bǎo xiǎn jiān guǎn jī gòu chéng lì， zhī hòu tā kāi shǐ shī yā， ràng píng 'ān chāi fēn qí xìn tuō hé zhèng quàn yè wù， bìng jiāng rén shòu hé cái chǎn bǎo xiǎn bù mén fēn chéng dú lì de gōng sī。
1999 nián 11 yuè， shí rèn zhōng guó bǎo xiǎn jiān dū guǎn lǐ wěi yuán huì zhù xí de mǎ yǒng wěi zài yī cì xīn wén fā bù huì shàng chēng， gāi jī gòu yǐ jīng zuò hǎo jìhuà， yào duì píng 'ān jí qí tā bǎo xiǎn gōng sī jìn xíng chāi fēn。
“ fēn yè jīng yíng fāng 'àn yǐ jīng tí jiāo guó wù yuàn shěn pī，” mǎ yǒng wěi duì méi tǐ chēng， tā hái biǎo shì jiāng“ shēn huà bǎo xiǎn xì tǒng de gǎi gé”。
jiān guǎn jī gòu ràng bù
zài gōng sī jí jiāng chāi fēn zhī jì， mǎ míng zhé（ yīng wén míng PeterMa） kāi shǐ gěi běi jīng de lǐng dǎo rén xiě xìn， xiàng zhù shǒu kǒu shù bèi wàng lù tí xǐng zì jǐ yào wéi gāo céng guān yuán“ gòu mǎi gāo 'ěr fū qiú gān”， hái liè chū xiáng xì de tú biǎo， guī dìng píng 'ān měi yī wèi gāo guǎn yīnggāi dān qǐ de yóushuì zé rèn， shàng shù jì lù de fù běn xiǎn shì。 zhè xiē fù běn yǐ jīng jīng guò liǎo qián píng 'ān gāo guǎn de hé shí。
mǎ míng zhé jiāng zì jǐ de jīng lì suǒ dìng zài zhōng guó zhèng fǔ zuì gāo de xíng zhèng jī gòu guó wù yuàn shàng， guó wù yuàn yóu 38 míng chéng yuán zǔ chéng， gāo jí lǐng dǎo rén bāo kuò zǒng lǐ zhū róng jī hé fù zǒng lǐ wēn jiā bǎo。 cǐ wài， píng 'ān hái tóng shí xiàng yòu jiān guǎn bǎo xiǎn yè zé rèn de zhōng guó yāng xíng xíng cháng dài xiāng lóng xún qiú bāng zhù。
wēn jiā bǎo dì wèi dú tè。 tā céng zài quán lì jù dà de zhōng yāng jīn róng gōng wěi rèn shū jì， zhōng yāng jīn róng gōng wěi chéng lì yú 1998 nián， fù zé jiān dū zhōng guó de yínháng yè、 zhèng quàn hé bǎo xiǎn jiān guǎn jī gòu， yǐ jí zhōng guó de dà xíng jīn róng jī gòu。
píng 'ān de huì yì jì lù yǐ jí duì chū xí zhě de cǎi fǎng xiǎn shì， mǎ míng zhé hé zhè xiē jiān guǎn zhě jiàn liǎo miàn， chēng zì jǐ de gōng sī lín jìn pò chǎn， xī wàng tā men néng gòu pī zhǔn gāi gōng sī zài xiāng gǎng fā xíng gǔ piào， cóng 'ér gǎi shàn gāi gōng sī de zī chǎn fù zhài biǎo。
“ mù qián， píng 'ān de shòu xiǎn kuī sǔn， chǎn xiǎn hé xìn tuō wēi yòu yíng lì，” mǎ míng zhé zài 1999 nián 9 yuè 29 rì xiě gěi wēn jiā bǎo de xìn zhōng shuō dào。 píng 'ān liǎng míng qián rèn gāo guǎn zhèng shí liǎo zhè fēng xìn de nèi róng。
zài bù jìn xíng chè dǐ chāi fēn de qíng kuàng xià， mǎ míng zhé tí chū liǎo yī tiáo zhé zhōng zhī dào。 tā zài zhēng qiú liǎo qí tā tóu zī zhě de yì jiàn zhī hòu， tí yì chéng lì yī jiā kòng gǔ gōng sī， shí jì shàng fēn kāi rén shòu bǎo xiǎn hé cái chǎn bǎo xiǎn yè wù， dàn tóng shí yòu jiāng zhè liǎng gè bù mén， yǐ jí zhèng quàn hé xìn tuō bù mén， zhì yú tóng yī jiā gōng sī qí xià。
tā shuō， zhè gè gōng sī jiāng zhòng zǔ wéi píng 'ān jí tuán，《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá kàn guò de píng 'ān wén jiàn xiǎn shì。 zhī hòu， tā jiù kāi shǐ wéi zì jǐ de tí yì xún zhǎo zhī chí zhě。
2000 nián 1 yuè， zài mǎ míng zhé de zhī chí xià， mó gēn shì dān lì hé gāo shèng de gāo guǎn men lián míng gěi wēn jiā bǎo xiě xìn chēng， chāi fēn jiāng“ wéi fǎn zhōng guó gǔ lì bìng bǎo hù wài guó tóu zī de zhèng cè”，《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè de gāi xìn hán de fù běn xiǎn shì。 zhè fēng xìn de zhēn shí xìng yǐ jīng yóu zhè liǎng jiā tóu zī yínháng de qián rèn gāo guǎn zhèng shí。
shàng shù měi guó tóu zī yínháng jǐng gào shuō，“ zuò wéi měi guó shàng shì gōng sī， wǒ men kě néng xū yào pī lù yǔ tóu zī píng 'ān xiāng guān de sǔn shī。 zhè duì yú xiàng wài jiè zhǎn shì zhōng guó gǎi gé kāi fàng zhèng cè de xíng xiàng， bìng méi yòu bāng zhù。”
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè dào de gōng sī wén jiàn xiǎn shì， zhè fēng xìn fā chū zhī qián， píng 'ān gāo guǎn yǐ jí liǎng jiā měi guó tóu zī yínháng yǐ jīng jìn xíng liǎo shù yuè de jī jí yóushuì， quàn shuō běi jīng de qí tā gāo céng guān yuán， bāo kuò zhōng yāng yínháng hé bǎo xiǎn jiān guǎn bù mén， ràng píng 'ān bǎo chí wán zhěng。
zǎo zài 1999 nián， píng 'ān gāo guǎn yě yǐ jīng kāi shǐ yǔ wēn jiā bǎo de jiā rén jìn xíng jiē chù。
qián píng 'ān yuán gōng hú kūn céng zài 1997 nián zhì 2000 nián zhī jiān dān rèn mǎ míng zhé de zhù lǐ。 hú kūn huí gù liǎo mǎ míng zhé yǔ wēn jiā bǎo de qī zǐ zhāng bèi lì 1999 nián de yī cì huì miàn。
hú kūn biǎo shì， tā méi yòu bèi gào zhī huì miàn shí fā shēng liǎo shénme， dàn tā jì dé mǎ míng zhé de fǎn yìng。 hú kūn shuō，“ yīn wéi nà cì huì miàn， mǎ dǒng shì cháng hěn jī dòng。” hú kūn xiàn zài jū zhù zài měi guó， tā shēng chēng， píng 'ān qiàn zì jǐ 5.2 wàn gǔ gǔ piào， bìng céng yīn cǐ yǔ píng 'ān chǎn shēng liǎo jiū fēn。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè de gōng sī jì lù xiǎn shì， 1999 nián 6 yuè 17 rì xià wǔ， mǎ míng zhé yǔ wēn jiā bǎo de qī zǐ， yǐ jí shí rèn píng 'ān zhù běi jīng dài biǎo chù zhù rèn de lǐ chūn yàn huì miàn， suí hòu hái gòng jìn wǎn cān。
xí jiān tán huà de nèi róng bùwèi wài jiè suǒ zhī， dàn shuāng fāng de guān xì sì hū kāi shǐ péng bó fā zhǎn。 dà yuē zài tóng yī shí qī， yóu zhāng bèi lì de qīn qī bù fēn kòng zhì de zuàn shí gōng sī， kāi shǐ zài píng 'ān wèi yú běi jīng de bàn gōng dà lóu zhàn jù bàn gōng kōng jiān， gāi zuàn shí gōng sī xiàng jiān guǎn bù mén tí jiāo de wén jiàn xiǎn shì。 jǐ wèi píng 'ān qián gāo guǎn zài jiē shòu cǎi fǎng shí tòu lù， zhī hòu， wēn jiā bǎo zhī zǐ wēn yún sōng yǔ rén gòng tóng jiàn lì de chuàng yè qǐ yè， cóng píng 'ān yíng dé liǎo lì rùn fēng hòu de kē jì hé tóng。
xiàn nián 56 suì de mǎ míng zhé réng rán kòng zhì zhe píng 'ān jí tuán， tā jù jué duì běn wén fā biǎo píng lùn。 hú kūn de huí yì， jí《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 chá yuè de xiāng guān wén jiàn zhōng guān yú píng 'ān de yóushuì nǔ lì， yǐ jí yǔ wēn jiā bǎo qīn shǔ huì miàn de qíng jié， tōng guò duì sì míng céng zài tóng yī duàn shí jiān， zài gāi gōng sī shēn zhèn zǒng bù yǔ mǎ míng zhé hé hú kūn gòng shì de gāo guǎn jìn xíng cǎi fǎng dé dào liǎo yìn zhèng。
cǐ wài， dāng shí fù zé běi jīng dài biǎo chù de lǐ chūn yàn zài jiē shòu diàn huà cǎi fǎng shí yě què rèn， zài nà duàn shí jiān， tā céng dài zhāng bèi lì yǔ píng 'ān dǒng shì cháng mǎ míng zhé huì miàn。
dàn wén jiàn hé cǎi fǎng bìng méi yòu jiē shì， jǐ cì huì miàn， shì fǒu duì zhèng fǔ jiān guǎn bù mén fàng qì chāi fēn píng 'ān de jué dìng chǎn shēng liǎo yǐng xiǎng。 bù guò zài 2002 nián 4 yuè， zhōng guó de zuì gāo jiān guǎn bù mén zuò chū liǎo jué dìng。 jīng guò guó wù yuàn jí bǎo xiǎn jiān guǎn bù mén de pī zhǔn， píng 'ān kāi shǐ liǎo jiāng zì jǐ zhuǎn biàn wéi yī jiā jīn róng jí tuán de guò chéng。
gāi gōng sī bù jǐn huò zhǔn bǎo liú cái chǎn bǎo xiǎn hé rén shòu bǎo xiǎn de pái zhào， hái huò zhǔn bǎo liú jīng yíng zhèng quàn gōng sī hé xìn tuō gōng sī de pái zhào。 píng 'ān hái huò zhǔn qǔ dé liǎo yī zhāng yínháng pái zhào。
fēn xī rén shì chēng， zài zhōng guó shòu dào yán gé guǎn zhì de shì chǎng shàng， zhè xiē pái zhào jià zhí lián chéng。
ruì yín (UBS) cháng qī guān zhù bǎo xiǎn hángyè de zhù xiāng gǎng fēn xī shī liáng zhì qín (BobLeung) shuō，“ xiǎng shòu dào liǎo wā jué jīn kuàng yī bān de gāo huí bào de rénshào zhī yòu shǎo， tā men jiù shì qí zhōng zhī yī。”
2002 nián dǐ， píng 'ān bù jǐn 'ān rán dù guò liǎo xià huá qū shì， hái chéng xiàn liǎo guāng míng de qián jǐng。 gōng sī de zhòng zǔ cù jìn liǎo shōu rù hé lì rùn de zēngzhǎng。 dāng nián 10 yuè， quán shì jiè zuì dà de yínháng zhī yī huì fēng yínháng tóng yì zhī fù 6 yì měi yuán， cóng píng 'ān gòu mǎi 10% de gǔ fèn。 jǐn jǐn yī nián duō yǐ hòu， jiān guǎn bù mén jiù pī zhǔn gāi gōng sī zài xiāng gǎng jiāo yì suǒ shàng shì xiāo shòu gǔ piào。
zài píng 'ān chóu bèi fù xiāng gǎng shàng shì shí， yī qún yǔ bāo kuò wēn jiā bǎo zài nèi de běi jīng gāo céng guān yuán yòu jǐn mì lián xì de tóu zī zhě， zhèng zài jìng qiǎo qiǎo dì dà liàng tún jī píng 'ān gǔ fèn。
mǎi jìn píng 'ān
píng 'ān pī lù de xìn xī xiǎn shì， 2002 nián 12 yuè 26 rì， lái zì zǒng lǐ gù xiāng de wēn jiā hǎo yǒu duàn wěi hóng jīng yíng de yī jiā gōng sī， tōng guò yī jiā míng wéi tài hóng de qǐ yè gòu rù píng 'ān gǔ fèn。 jì lù xiǎn shì， zhī hòu bù jiǔ， wēn jiā bǎo de qīn qī， jí qí qī zǐ de tóng shì kòng zhì liǎo zhè gè tóu zī gōng jù。
gēn jù píng 'ān zài xiāng gǎng shàng shì qián tí gōng de wén jiàn， tài hóng xiān shì cóng quán qiú yùn shū jù tóu zhōng guó yuǎn yáng yùn shū（ jí tuán） zǒng gōng sī（ jiǎn chēng wéi“ zhōng yuǎn”） shǒu zhōng gòu mǎi liǎo 7770 wàn gǔ píng 'ān gǔ fèn， hòu lái yòu cóng zhōng yuǎn de dà lián fēn zhī jī gòu gòu rù 220 wàn gǔ。 gǔ fèn yī chāi 'èr zhī hòu， tài hóng yōng yòu de gǔ fèn shù liàng fān fān。 yīn cǐ， gēn jù gōng kāi pī lù de wén jiàn， 2004 nián 6 yuè， jí píng 'ān zài xiāng gǎng shàng shì qián xī， tài hóng chí yòu 1.598 yì gǔ píng 'ān gǔ fèn， yuē zhàn zǒng gǔ fèn de 3.2%。
zài yī cì cǎi fǎng zhōng， duàn wěi hóng chēng， wèile gòu mǎi zhè xiē gǔ fèn， tā měi gǔ huā fèi liǎo yuē 40 měi fēn（ àn zhào dāng qián de huì shuài）， gòng jì 6500 wàn měi yuán。
fēn xī rén shì chēng， zhè yī jià gé sì hū xiǎng shòu liǎo fēi tóng xún cháng de dà zhé kòu， yīn wéi gēn jù gōng kāi pī lù de wén jiàn， zài zhè zhī qián de liǎng gè yuè， huì fēng gòu mǎi liǎo píng 'ān 10% de gǔ fèn， měi gǔ yuē 1.6 měi yuán。
zhōng yuǎn méi yòu huí fù zhì píng qǐng qiú。
duì tài hóng 'ér yán， zhè bǐ mǎi mài dà huò chéng gōng。 2007 nián， píng 'ān gǔ jià dá dào fēng zhí， zhè 1.59 yì gǔ de gū zhí wéi 37 yì měi yuán。 bù guò， gēn jù gōng kāi pī lù de wén jiàn， tài hóng yǐ yú 2007 nián qián dà fú jiàng dī liǎo chí gǔ 'é。
gēn jù gōng sī hé jiān guǎn wén jiàn， jìn guǎn tài hóng shì míng yì shàng de gǔ dōng， dàn shì píng 'ān zhè bǐ jiāo yì de shòu yì rén yǐn cáng zài wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ kòng zhì de shí jǐ gè tóu zī gōng jù zhī hòu， bāo kuò tā de yī gè dì xí、 tā qī zǐ zhāng bèi lì de liǎng míng xiōng dì， yǐ jí tā de shù gè cháng qī tóng shì hé shēng yì huǒ bàn。 suǒ yòu zhè xiē réndōu yǔ duàn wěi hóng yī qǐ， liè wéi tài hóng de chí yòu rén。
gēn jù gōng kāi wén jiàn， dào 2007 nián， wēn jiā bǎo zǒng lǐ xiàn nián 91 suì de mǔ qīn， tōng guò yǔ tài hóng xiāng guān de liǎng jiā tóu zī gōng sī， chí yòu jià zhí 1.2 yì měi yuán de píng 'ān gǔ piào。
duàn wěi hóng chēng， tā cóng 2000 nián kāi shǐ rèn shí wēn jiā bǎo de jiā rén， dàn zhè xiē píng 'ān gǔ fèn dōushì wéi tā gè rén de zhàng hù gòu mǎi de。 tā shuō， wēn jiā bǎo de qīn shǔ zhī suǒ yǐ chū xiàn zài tài hóng de chí gǔ jì lù lǐ， jǐn jǐn shì yīn wéi tā de gōng sī jiè yòng liǎo tā rén yóu zhèng fǔ bān fā de shēn fèn zhèng， yǐ biàn xiàng gōng zhòng yǎn gài tā zì jǐ chí yòu de píng 'ān gǔ fèn。 tā chēng， zǒng lǐ qīn shǔ de shēn fèn zhèng shì cuò wù jiè yòng de。
duàn wěi hóng shuō，“ zuì hòu de shōu yì， 100% dū guī wǒ suǒ yòu。”
yú bō
2001 nián， zhōng guó bān bù liǎo xīn de fǎ guī， xiàn zhì gòng chǎn dǎng yuán jí qí jiā tíng chéng yuán jìn xíng gǔ piào jiāo yì。
bǐ fāng shuō， fǎ guī jìn zhǐ fù zé guó yòu qǐ yè de gòng chǎn dǎng guān yuán lì yòng qīn shǔ lái mǎi mài shàng shì guó yòu qǐ yè de gǔ piào。 zhè xiē qīn shǔ bāo kuò fù mǔ、 zǐ nǚ， shèn zhì hái bāo kuò zǐ nǚ pèi 'ǒu de qīn shǔ。
《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 méi yòu fā xiàn wēn jiā bǎo yǔ jiā tíng chéng yuán fēn xiǎng nèi mù xìn xī de jì xiàng。
dàn shì，《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 zī xún de fēn xī rén shì chēng， guān yú zhè xiē qīn shǔ chí yòu de gǔ fèn， yòu hěn duō yòu dài jiě dá de wèn tí， bǐ rú， shuí kě néng zhī xiǎo zhè xiē qīn shǔ gòu mǎi liǎo gǔ piào， yǐ jí shì fǒu yòu rén yīngdāng chéng dān pī lù zhè xiē xìn xī de fǎ lǜ yì wù。
mó gēn shì dān lì hé gāo shèng de gāo guǎn chēng， tā men jì bù zhī dào zhè xiē gǔ fèn mǎi mài huó dòng， yě méi yòu cānyù dào jiāo yì zhōng。
zhè liǎng jiā gōng sī hái chēng， diǎn xíng de shǒu cì gōng kāi fā xíng (IPO) chéng xù zhōng， bù tài kě néng fā xiàn yǐn cáng zài duō zhòng tóu zī gōng jù bèi hòu、 cǎi yòng mò shēng xìng míng de gǔ dōng de zhēn zhèng shēn fèn。
gēn jù xiāng gǎng hé zhōng guó nèi dì de jiān guǎn fǎ guī， gōng kāi shàng shì de gōng sī jí bāng zhù qí chéng xiāo gǔ piào de zhuān yè fú wù huǒ bàn， yòu fǎ lǜ yì wù pī lù chí gǔ bǐ lì chāo guò 5% de gǔ dōng de shēn fèn。《 niǔ yuē shí bào》 fā xiàn， jí biàn shì zài chí gǔ zuì duō de shí hòu， wēn jiā bǎo jiā rén de tóu zī gōng jù tài hóng suǒ chí yòu de gǔ fèn bǐ lì yě cóng wèi chāo guò 3.2%。
lìng yī gè yòu dài jiě dá de wèn tí shì， tài hóng rú hé néng gòu yǐ sì hū jí qí yōu huì de jià gé gòu mǎi píng 'ān de gǔ fèn。 dào 2002 nián dǐ， suí zhe huì fēng de yī dà bǐ tóu zī， píng 'ān de IPO qián jǐng yǐ jīng jí dù kàn hǎo。
fǎ lǜ zhuān jiā chēng， yī xiē wèn tí de dá 'àn kě néng zài yú， zài píng 'ān 2004 nián shàng shì zhī qián， shuí zuò wéi zhōng jiànrén cù chéng liǎo zhè xiē qīn shǔ gòu mǎi gāi gōng sī de gǔ fèn， yǐ jí zhè xiē cuō hé jiāo yì de rén shì fǒu shì tú cóng jiān guǎn jī gòu dé dào hǎo chù。
niǔ yuē dà xué fǎ xué yuàn (NewYorkUniversityLawSchool) jiào shòu、 zhōng guó sī fǎ xì tǒng zhuān jiā kǒng jié róng (JeromeA.Cohen) shuō，“ guān jiàn wèn tí shì， wèishénme xuǎn zhōng liǎo zhè xiē rén， yǐ jí tā men huò dé zhè xiē gǔ fèn de tiáo jiàn shì shénme？ hěn xiǎn rán， měi gè réndōu xiǎng zài yī zhuāng rè mén IPO jìn xíng zhī qián cānyù qí zhōng。”
(DAVIDBARBOZA)
SHENZHEN, China — The head of a financially troubled insurer was pushing Chinese officials to relax rules that required breaking up the company in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
The survival of Ping An Insurance was at stake, officials were told in the fall of 1999. Direct appeals were made to the vice premier at the time, Wen Jiabao, as well as the then-head of China’s central bank — two powerful officials with oversight of the industry.
“I humbly request that the vice premier lead and coordinate the matter from a higher level,” Ma Mingzhe, chairman of Ping An, implored in a letter to Mr. Wen that was reviewed by The New York Times.
Ping An was not broken up.
The successful outcome of the lobbying effort would prove monumental.
Ping An went on to become one of China’s largest financial services companies, a $50 billion powerhouse now worth more than A.I.G., MetLife or Prudential. And behind the scenes, shares in Ping An that would be worth billions of dollars once the company rebounded were acquired by relatives of Mr. Wen.
The Times reported last month that the relatives of Mr. Wen, who became prime minister in 2003, had grown extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, acquiring stakes in tourist resorts, banks, jewelers, telecommunications companies and other business ventures.
The greatest source of wealth, by far, The Times investigation has found, came from the shares in Ping An bought about eight months after the insurer was granted a waiver to the requirement that big financial companies be broken up.
Long before most investors could buy Ping An stock, Taihong, a company that would soon be controlled by Mr. Wen’s relatives, acquired a large stake in Ping An from state-owned entities that held shares in the insurer, regulatory and corporate records show. And by all appearances, Taihong got a sweet deal. The shares were bought in December 2002 for one-quarter of the price that another big investor — the British bank HSBC Holdings — paid for its shares just two months earlier, according to interviews and public filings.
By June 2004, the shares held by the Wen relatives had already quadrupled in value, even before the company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And by 2007, the initial $65 million investment made by Taihong would be worth $3.7 billion.
Corporate records show that the relatives’ stake of that investment most likely peaked at $2.2 billion in late 2007, the last year in which Taihong’s shareholder records were publicly available. Because the company is no longer listed in Ping An’s public filings, it is unclear if the relatives continue to hold shares.
It is also not known whether Mr. Wen or the central bank chief at the time, Dai Xianglong, personally intervened on behalf of Ping An’s request for a waiver, or if Mr. Wen was even aware of the stakes held by his relatives.
But internal Ping An documents, government filings and interviews with bankers and former senior executives at Ping An indicate that both the vice premier’s office and the central bank were among the regulators involved in the Ping An waiver meetings and who had the authority to sign off on the waiver.
Only two large state-run financial institutions were granted similar waivers, filings show, while three of China’s big state-run insurance companies were forced to break up. Many of the country’s big banks complied with the breakup requirement — enforced after the financial crisis because of concerns about the stability of the financial system — by selling their assets in other institutions.
Ping An issued a statement to The Times saying the company strictly complies with rules and regulations, but does not know the backgrounds of all entities behind shareholders. The company also said “it is the legitimate right of shareholders to buy and sell shares between themselves.”
In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry did not return calls seeking comment for this article. Earlier, a Foreign Ministry spokesman sharply criticized the investigation by The Times into the finances of Mr. Wen’s relatives, saying it “smears China and has ulterior motives.”
After The Times reported last month on the family’s wealth, lawyers representing the family said the article contained unspecified errors and that the family reserved the right to take legal action.
In addition, the Chinese government blocked access to the English-language and Chinese-language Web sites of The Times in China — and continues to do so — saying the action was “in accordance with laws and rules.”
Neither Mr. Wen, who is expected to retire in March, nor Mr. Dai, who is now the head of the National Social Security Fund, could be reached for comment.
Western and Chinese bankers and lawyers involved in Ping An’s 2004 Hong Kong stock listing and a subsequent 2007 listing in Shanghai said they did not know that relatives of Mr. Wen had acquired large stakes in the company.
Executives at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which once held sizable stakes in Ping An and served as lead underwriters for the Hong Kong public offering, also said they were never told of the holdings. At Ping An’s urging, the two investment banks had also appealed in 2000 to Mr. Wen and other regulators for the waiver from the breakup rule. The private equity divisions of the two investment banks sold their combined stakes to HSBC in 2005 for about $1 billion — a 14-fold increase on their initial investment.
Thousands of pages of publicly available corporate documents reviewed by The Times suggest that the Ping An stakes held by the prime minister’s relatives were concealed behind layers of obscure partnerships rather than being held directly in their names.
In an interview last month, Duan Weihong, a wealthy Wen family friend, said that the shares in Ping An actually belonged to her and that it was an accident that Mr. Wen’s relatives appeared in shareholding records. The process involved borrowing their government identity cards and obtaining their signatures.
China and Hong Kong have detailed regulations on the disclosure of corporate information deemed material to a publicly listed company’s operation, like the identities of large shareholders and details about whether companies controlling large stakes are related parties. But legal experts say enforcement is often lax, particularly inside China. There is also, they say, a culture of nominee shareholders — when one person holds shares on behalf of someone else — that is difficult for even the most seasoned lawyers and accountants to penetrate.
The Times found no indication such regulations or any law was broken, nor any evidence that Mr. Wen held shares in Ping An under his own name.
After reviewing questions from The Times, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange declined to comment. The China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing did not respond to inquiries.
HSBC, today Ping An’s largest shareholder with about 15.5 percent of its stock, declined to comment. The company announced last week that it is considering selling its stake in Ping An as part of a broad effort to raise capital.
Ping An today is a hugely successful conglomerate with revenue of $40 billion last year and about 500,000 insurance agents across China. It is China’s only fully integrated financial institution, with the second largest insurer, a trust company and brokerage house.
In late 2010, Ping An added more firepower, announcing a $4 billion deal that has since given it control of the Shenzhen Development Bank, one of China’s midsize commercial banks. Ping An is now building a new headquarters here in Shenzhen, a spectacular 115-story office tower that was designed by the New York architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox.
Ping An’s Close Call
Ma Mingzhe, the Ping An chairman and chief executive, was a high school graduate who got his start as an aide to Yuan Geng, a pioneering figure in some of China’s earliest economic reforms and an early leader of Ping An.
Impressed with Mr. Ma’s intellect, Mr. Yuan put him in charge of human resources at a state-managed industrial park, and eventually at a new insurance firm, Ping An, which took root in Shenzhen, a coastal boomtown.
Mr. Ma’s timing was opportune. China was just beginning to restructure its state-led economy. The government began dismantling the iron rice bowl system, which had guaranteed pensions, social insurance and living quarters to Communist Party cadres.
Although Ping An was founded as a state entity, it was one of the first Chinese insurance companies to experiment with Western management systems, including the use of actuaries and back-office operations, as well as foreign shareholders.
Mr. Ma helped manage the tiny company when it was founded in 1988. Several years later, he was looking for big-name shareholders from the United States.
In 1994, the private equity divisions of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs each paid about $35 million to acquire 7.5 percent interests in Ping An. At the time, they were the largest foreign investments ever made in a Chinese financial institution.
Much of the company’s early success was attributed to Mr. Ma, a hard-charging executive who was admired for his management and political skills — and for taking risks.
“He had all the qualities of a great entrepreneur,” says Yan Feng, who helped run Ping An’s Shanghai office in the 1990s. “He was a quick learner, knew how to adapt to new situations and was really determined. He’d do whatever it takes to get what he wants.”
But the company’s growth drive ran into trouble in the late 1990s, when China’s economy weakened after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The bloated state sector began to collapse, and by 1998, some of the nation’s biggest banks were nearly insolvent.
Ping An’s hard-won fortunes were also evaporating. Like most big Chinese insurers, Ping An had won new clients with investment products that guaranteed big returns over long periods based on the high interest rates banks offered for deposits during a time of inflation. When interest rates plummeted in the mid-1990s, losses piled up.
In 1999, senior executives at Ping An began to acknowledge that the company could soon be insolvent. As a joint-stockholding company, Ping An had big institutional investors, mostly state companies. But many of them refused to come to the company’s aid by purchasing additional shares, which would have provided needed capital.
“They weren’t sure Ping An would survive,” said one former Ping An executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
There was also mounting pressure from the government. Worried about systemic risks to the financial system, regulators in Beijing stepped up their enforcement of laws that required financial institutions to limit the scope of their business activities.
Banks were told to sell their stakes in brokerage houses or trust companies; and insurance companies had to choose to operate in life or property insurance, but not both.
After China’s new insurance regulatory agency was established in 1998, it began pressing Ping An to shed its trust and securities business, and to split its life and property insurance divisions into separate companies.
At a news conference in November 1999, Ma Yongwei, then the chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said the agency had already drawn up plans to split up Ping An and other insurers.
“The separation plans have been submitted to the State Council for approval,” Ma Yongwei told the media, adding that they would “deepen reform of the insurance system.”
Pushing Back the Regulators
With his company about to be broken up, Ma Mingzhe, also known as Peter Ma, fired off letters to leaders in Beijing, dictated memos reminding himself to “buy golf clubs” for high-ranking officials, and kept detailed charts outlining the lobbying responsibilities of each top executive at Ping An, according to a copy of those records verified by former Ping An executives.
Mr. Ma focused much of his personal energy on China’s highest government administrative body, the State Council, a 38-member group whose senior leaders were Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Wen Jiabao, then vice premier. The company also sought the support of Dai Xianglong, the nation’s central bank chief, who also had oversight over the insurance industry.
Mr. Wen was in a unique position. He was head of China’s powerful Central Financial Work Commission, which had been established in 1998 to oversee the country’s banking, securities and insurance regulators, as well as China’s biggest financial institutions.
When Mr. Ma met regulators, he told them his company was facing insolvency and asked them to help shore up the company’s balance sheet by approving a Hong Kong stock offering, according to transcripts of Ping An meetings and interviews with participants.
“Now, Ping An’s life insurance is in a loss, and property insurance and the trust company have thin margins,” Mr. Ma wrote in the Sept. 29, 1999, letter to Mr. Wen. The contents were confirmed by two former top Ping An executives.
Rather than an out-and-out breakup, Mr. Ma offered a middle road. After seeking advice of other investors, Mr. Ma proposed the formation of a holding company that would effectively separate life insurance from property but keep them under one corporate umbrella, along with the securities and trust division.
The company, he said, would re-establish itself as the Ping An Group, according to Ping An documents reviewed by The Times. He then began looking for allies to promote his proposal.
In January 2000, with Mr. Ma’s backing, executives from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs wrote a joint letter to Mr. Wen arguing that a breakup would “violate China’s policy to encourage and protect foreign investment,” according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Times. The letter’s authenticity was verified by former executives at the two investment banks.
The American investment banks warned that “as a listed company in the U.S., we could be required to disclose our losses relating to the investment in Ping An, which would not be helpful for the image of China’s policy of reform and opening to the outside.”
The letter came after months of aggressive lobbying on the part of Ping An executives and the two American banks to persuade other high-ranking officials in Beijing, including the central bank and the insurance regulator, to hold Ping An together, according to corporate documents reviewed by The Times.
As early as 1999, executives at Ping An also began making contact with the relatives of Mr. Wen.
Hu Kun, a former Ping An employee who served as Mr. Ma’s staff assistant from 1997 to 2000, recalled a 1999 meeting between Mr. Ma and Zhang Beili, the wife of Mr. Wen.
Mr. Hu said he was not told what transpired at the meeting, but he recalled his boss’s reaction. “Because of that meeting, Chairman Ma got very excited,” said Mr. Hu, who is now living in the United States and who has quarreled with Ping An over 52,000 shares he claimed he was owed.
Corporate records reviewed by The Times indicate that Mr. Ma held an afternoon meeting and then dinner with the prime minister’s wife and Li Chunyan, who ran Ping An’s office in Beijing, on June 17, 1999.
It is not known what they discussed, but the relationship seemed to flourish. Around the same time, a diamond company partly controlled by the relatives of Ms. Zhang began occupying office space at the Ping An office tower in Beijing, according to records the diamond company filed with regulators. Later, a start-up co-founded by Wen Yunsong, the son of Ms. Zhang and the prime minister, won a lucrative technology contract from Ping An, according to interviews with former Ping An executives.
Mr. Ma, who is 56 and still runs Ping An, declined to comment for this article. Interviews with four senior executives who worked with Mr. Ma and Mr. Hu at the corporate headquarters in Shenzhen during the same period corroborate Mr. Hu’s recollections and the content of the documents reviewed by The Times concerning Ping An’s lobbying efforts and meetings with the relatives of Mr. Wen.
In addition, Li Chunyan, who ran the Beijing office, confirmed in a telephone interview that during that period he had brought Ms. Zhang to meet the Ping An chairman, Mr. Ma.
The documents and interviews shed no light on whether those meetings played a role in the decision by government regulators to abandon plans to split up Ping An. But in April 2002, the nation’s top regulators delivered their verdict. With approval of the State Council and insurance regulators, Ping An began the process of transforming itself into a financial conglomerate.
The company was not only allowed to retain property and life insurance licenses, but also licenses that permitted it to operate a brokerage and a trust company. It was also allowed to obtain a bank license.
Together, analysts say, the licenses were worth a fortune in China’s tightly regulated marketplace.
“They were one of the few who got to enjoy these gold-digging benefits,” said Bob Leung, a longtime insurance analyst at UBS in Hong Kong.
By late 2002, Ping An had not simply survived the downturn, its prospects had begun to look bright. The company’s restructuring bolstered revenue and profits. In October of that year, one of the world’s biggest banks, HSBC, agreed to pay $600 million to acquire a 10 percent stake in the company from Ping An. Just over a year later, regulators approved the company’s application to list and sell shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
While Ping An was preparing for its listing in Hong Kong, a group of investors with close ties to senior officials in Beijing, including Wen Jiabao, were quietly accumulating large blocks of Ping An stock.
Buying Into Ping An
On Dec. 26, 2002, Ping An filings show, a company run by Duan Weihong, a Wen family friend from the prime minister’s hometown, acquired Ping An stock through a company called Taihong. Soon after, the relatives of Mr. Wen and colleagues of his wife took control of that investment vehicle, the records show.
According to documents Ping An filed ahead of its Hong Kong listing, Taihong acquired 77.7 million shares of Ping An from the China Ocean Shipping Company, a global shipping giant known as Cosco, and 2.2 million more shares from Cosco’s Dalian subsidiary. A two-for-one stock split doubled the number of shares Taihong owned. So in June 2004, just before Ping An’s Hong Kong offering, Taihong held 159.8 million shares, or about 3.2 percent of Ping An’s stock, according to public filings.
In an interview, Ms. Duan said she had paid about 40 cents a share at current exchange rates, or a total of $65 million, to acquire the shares.
The price seems to have been a huge and unusual discount, analysts say, since HSBC had two months earlier acquired its 10 percent stake for about $1.60 a share, according to public filings.
Cosco did not return calls seeking comment.
For Taihong, it was a blockbuster purchase. By 2007, when the price of Ping An’s stock peaked, the 159 million shares were valued at $3.7 billion — though by 2007 Taihong had already significantly reduced its stake, according to public filings.
While Taihong was the shareholder of record, the beneficiaries of the Ping An deal were cloaked behind more than a dozen investment vehicles controlled by the relatives of Mr. Wen, including two brothers-in-law, a sister-in-law, as well as several longtime colleagues and business partners of his wife, Zhang Beili, according to corporate and regulatory documents. All of them were listed, along with Ms. Duan, as the owners of Taihong.
And by 2007, the prime minister’s mother, who is now 91, was listed on public documents as holding $120 million worth of Ping An stock through a pair of investment companies linked to Taihong.
Ms. Duan, who says she got to know the prime minister’s family in 2000, said that she bought the Ping An shares for her own personal account. The Wen relatives only appear in the Taihong shareholding records, she said, because her company borrowed the government-issued identity cards of other people — mistakenly, she said, from relatives of the prime minister — to help mask her own Ping An stake from the public.
“In the end,” Ms. Duan said, “I received 100 percent of the returns.”
The Fallout
In 2001, China issued new regulations that put restrictions on trading in listed shares by Communist Party members and their families.
For instance, the rules barred party officials in charge of a state-owned company from using their parents, children — or even their children’s spouse’s relatives — to trade stocks of a listed state-owned company.
The Times found no indication that Mr. Wen shared inside information with family members.
But there are many unanswered questions about the relatives’ holdings, analysts consulted by The Times said, like who might have known about the relatives’ purchases and whether anyone had a legal obligation to disclose that information.
Executives at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs say they were unaware of the share purchases and were not involved in the transactions.
The companies also said that a typical I.P.O. process is unlikely to uncover the ultimate identity of shareholders who are hiding behind layers of investment vehicles using unrecognizable names.
According to regulations in Hong Kong and China, publicly listed companies and their professional partners who help sell shares to the public are legally obligated to disclose the identities of only those shareholders controlling a stake larger than 5 percent. The Times found that at its peak, Taihong, the investment vehicle tied to the Wen family, never held more than a 3.2 percent stake.
Another question that remains unanswered is how Taihong was able to buy shares of Ping An at a price that appears to have been highly discounted. By late 2002, Ping An had already become a hot I.P.O. prospect following a big investment by HSBC.
The answers to some of the questions, legal experts say, may turn on who was involved in brokering the deal that led to the relatives’ acquiring shares in Ping An in the period before the company’s public offering in 2004, and whether the deal-makers were seeking to gain favors from the regulators.
“The key questions are: why were these people chosen, and on what terms did they get the shares?” said Jerome A. Cohen, a professor at New York University Law School and an expert on China’s legal system. “Obviously, everyone would like to get in before a hot I.P.O.”
(DAVID BARBOZA)
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