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General Electric led a trio of groups planning big takeovers yesterday to lift the value of transactions launched in October to more than $500bn, in what has unexpectedly become one of the busiest months for dealmaking on record.
昨日，通用电气(GE)等三家谋划实施大型收购的集团宣布并购消息，推动10月发起的并购交易额超过5000亿美元，让10月意外地成为有史以来并购交易最繁忙的月份之一。
The surge in blockbuster mergers and acquisitions signalled renewed corporate confidence in the outlook for the US economy, dealmakers said, even as the country’s highly charged presidential race concludes in just a week.
交易撮合者表示，在美国高度紧张的总统竞选仅剩一周之际，大型并购交易的激增表明了企业对美国经济前景的信心。
Operating conditions have not changed drastically in recent years: companies are struggling to increase sales and historically low borrowing rates have made acquisitions an attractive way to boost revenue. That combination has provided the impetus for a multiyear boom in dealmaking led by industries where companies are seeking consolidation to gain scale over competitors and leverage over customers.
近年来，美国的经营环境一直没有发生显著改变：企业难以提升销售额，处于历史低位的借款利率使收购成为一种颇具吸引力的增收方式。这一局面催生了许多行业连续多年的交易热潮，这些行业内的公司正在寻求整合，以获得相对竞争对手的规模优势和对客户的影响力。
“I’ve never tried to think about politics in terms of when I time deals,” Jeff Immelt, GE chief executive, said of his $25bn deal to acquire oil and gas services provider Baker Hughes. “The time do these things is right now . . . when there is a level of uncertainty, not whenever things are known.”
通用电气首席执行官杰夫.伊梅尔特(Jeff Immelt)在谈起250亿美元的通用电气收购石油和天然气服务提供商贝克休斯(Baker Hughes)的交易时表示，“在选择交易时机方面，我从未试图考虑政治因素。做这些事情的时机就是现在……还存在些许不确定性的时候，而不是情况已经明朗的时候。”
The company formed by combining GE’s oil and gas equipment manufacturing unit with Baker Hughes will create a powerful rival to oil services group Schlumberger, with $32bn in annual revenues and operations in 120 countries.
由通用电气旗下石油和天然气设备制造部门与贝克休斯合并而成的新公司，年收入将达320亿美元，业务遍及120个国家，将成为油田服务公司斯伦贝谢(Schlumberger)的强大对手。
Elsewhere, CenturyLink, the US telecoms group, said it would buy the larger Level 3, which provides infrastructure that allows business to connect to the internet safely, for $34bn, including debt, and private equity group Blackstone said it would acquire TeamHealth, a US provider of physician services, for $6.1bn, including debt.
此外，美国电信集团CenturyLink表示，将以340亿美元（含债务）收购体量更大的Level 3。后者提供帮企业安全接入互联网的基础设施。私募股权集团黑石(Blackstone)表示，将以61亿美元（含债务）收购美国医疗服务提供商TeamHealth。
The transactions capped the seventh most-active month for global M&A with $502.8bn of deals, according to data from Dealogic. Attempts for US-based companies accounted for $329.1bn of that amount, just shy of a monthly record set in July of 2015.
Dealogic的数据显示，10月份以5028亿美元的交易量，成为全球并购交易第七活跃的月份。涉及美国企业的交易额为3291亿美元，仅略低于2015年7月创下的纪录。
The remarkable surge in M&A activity in October comes after a sluggish 2016 for dealmakers. Until recently, chief executives have been reluctant to make big bets in the US due to the turmoil associated with the presidential race and an Obama administration that has acted to block several megadeals.
经历交易清淡的今年头9个月之后，10月份并购活动出现显著飙升。由于美国总统竞选引起的混乱以及奥巴马政府叫停了多个大型收购案，首席执行官们直到最近一直不愿在美国进行大规模押注。
Some argue that October’s burst was partly thanks to the growing poll lead of Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential nominee, over Republican rival Donald Trump. The FBI’s decision to release new details about its investigation into Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server could choke off the trend.
有人认为，10月并购交易爆发的部分原因在于，民主党提名总统候选人希拉里.克林顿(Hillary Clinton)在民调中对共和党对手唐纳德.特朗普(Donald Trump)的优势不断扩大。美国联邦调查局(FBI)决定公布其对希拉里使用私人电子邮件服务器情况的调查的新细节，可能会让这种趋势夭折。
Scott Barshay, a senior dealmaker at law firm Paul Weiss, said the recent spree, which includes AT&T’s agreement to buy Time Warner for about $108bn, including debt, featured deals that had strong long-term rationales as well as few regulatory hurdles.
宝维斯律师事务所(Paul Weiss)高级交易撮合人斯科特.巴尔谢(Scott Barshay)表示，最近这股并购狂潮——包括AT&T同意以约1080亿美元（含债务）收购时代华纳(Time Warner)——的主角，是那些从长远来看具有充分合理性并且不存在多少监管障碍的交易。
“They were not just synergy or financial plays, rather they were highly ¬strategic, landscape-changing business combinations in their respective industries,” Mr Barshay said. “We don’t expect any of them to have great difficulty in obtaining regulatory approvals around the world.”
“这些交易不仅仅出于协同效应或财务考量，而更是在各自行业中具有高度战略眼光、可以改变格局的企业合并，”巴尔谢说， “我们预计，这几项交易在获得世界各地的监管批准方面都没有太大困难。”
