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Business.
商業。
German business.
德國商業。
Screwdrivers drawn.
拉鋸戰。
A shareholder stand-off in the Black Forest.
山林地區股東的勢均力敵之爭。
IF YOU have ever struggled to assemble a flat-pack wardrobe, the chances are that its wooden pieces were cut, drilled and finished on machines made by Homag. Founded in 1960 in Schopfloch, in the Black Forest, Homag is one of those little-known world champions that are the backbone of the German economy.
如果你組裝過組合式衣柜，這些木質零部件可能是由豪邁公司機械化切割、鉆孔及加工潤飾的。位于德國山林區紹普夫洛赫的豪邁公司成立于1960年。德國有許多低知名度的世界頂級公司，他們是德國經濟的脊梁，而豪邁公司正是其中的一員。
But not all is well in Schopfloch. Gerhard Schuler, one of its founders, now a sprightly 85, is at war with Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG), a private-equity firm that was once his dream partner. After buying into the company in 1997 DBAG built up a stake of 60%. When Homag was floated on the stockmarket in 2007 it kept 33% and Mr Schuler stayed on as honorary chairman with a small stake. But business dipped in 2008 and the shares plunged. Mr Schuler and his supporters, worried about the direction the company was taking, started buying. They built a blocking minority of 25.01%.
但是紹普夫洛赫并非一切安好。豪邁公司創建者之一，現年85歲活躍的Gerhard Schuler先生正在與德意志參股上市公司 (DBAG)處于爭斗之中。DBAG是一家私人股權公司，曾經是Schuler先生理想中的合作伙伴。1997年，DBAG通過入股豪邁公司而擁有其60%的股份。當2007年豪邁公司股票大漲時，DBAG持有33%的股份，同時，Schuler先生持有少量股份并擔任豪邁公司的名譽主席。但在2008年發生了經濟下滑和股票縮水，Schuler先生及其支持者由于擔心公司的經營方向開始購買股權。最終他們持有具有否決權的25.01%的少數股權。
That did not stop DBAG kicking Mr Schuler's three appointees off Homag's supervisory board two years ago and replacing them with people who were "more internationally minded". Since then, the two sides have been at screwdrivers drawn.
這并沒有阻止DBAG在兩年前將三位Schuler的任命人踢出豪邁監事會，并重新委任了更具有全球視野的人。自那時起，雙方便陷入拉鋸戰之中。
At a stormy shareholders' meeting last month things came to a head. Mr Schuler and his allies accused DBAG of being a "locust" interested only in short-term profit, and of selling out to a foreign buyer. Local staff want Achim Gauss, Homag's long-standing technical director, who resigned abruptly "for personal reasons" on May 23rd, to be reinstated. IKEA, a Swedish furniture chain and Homag's biggest customer, also expressed concern at Mr Gauss's departure.
在上月召開的激烈的股東會議中，問題逐漸變得突出。Schuler一方指責DBAG只關注短期利益，并向外國買家出售股份。豪邁的全體職工希望Achim Gauss復職，他是豪邁資深技術主管，于5月23日突然宣布"因個人原因"辭職。豪邁最大的客戶，瑞典連鎖家具企業IKEA也表示了對Gauss離職的關注。
DBAG, one of Germany's oldest private-equity firms, is not obviously locust-like. Its executives insist it is there for the long term. However, Homag is DBAG's biggest investment and its shares have not performed well. Half of DBAG's stake is owned by two of its investment funds, one of which is scheduled to wind up this year. So a partial exit would be logical. There is no reason for a forced sale, says a DBAG source: that would weaken DBAG's influence. Meanwhile, Mr Schuler's crowd are looking for a white knight.
作為德國歷史最悠久的私人股權公司，DBAG明顯不是目光短淺，它的執行官堅稱DBAG有長期規劃。然而，豪邁是DBAG最大的投資項目，并且豪邁在股市的表現欠佳。DBAG的一半股份由它的兩個投資基金擁有，其中之一正計劃著今年撤出，因此不完全的退出是有合理的。據來自DBAG的消息稱，我們沒有原因進行被迫交易，這將削弱DBAG的影響力。與此同時，Schuler一方正在尋找救世主。
More happily, Homag's business is on the rebound. Last year's turnover of ￡800m ($1.1 billion) was near the pre-crisis peak, and the closing of three German subsidiaries should cut costs. Gordon Sch?nell of Bankhaus Lampe, a private bank, says that "the managers are doing the right things." But for Mr Schuler the shift from family firm to shareholder capitalism has gone too far.
令人高興的是，豪邁的經營狀況正在好轉。去年它的營業總額達到8億歐元（11億美元），接近經濟危機前的最高值，而且關閉三家德國下屬公司可以削減部分成本。私有銀行Gordon Sch?nell of Bankhaus Lampe宣稱豪邁管理者正在做正確的事情。但是對Schuler來說，從家族企業向股份資本企業的轉變已是漸行漸遠。
