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David Cameron has warned that Britain must not “pull up the drawbridge” against foreign investors as Downing Street pushed back against pressure from the opposition Labour party to intervene in Pfizer’s proposed £63bn offer for AstraZeneca.
英國首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)警告稱，英國不能對外國投資者“拉起吊橋”。這是唐寧街對反對黨工黨壓力的回擊，工黨要求干預輝瑞(Pfizer)以630億英鎊收購阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)的提議。
The prime minister said the UK benefited “massively” from its economic openness and insisted the government was making “very good progress” in seeking job assurances from Pfizer even without seeking new powers to formally intervene.
卡梅倫表示，英國“極大地”受益于經濟開放性，他堅稱英國政府在讓輝瑞確保就業方面“進展良好”，無需尋求新的權力進行正式干預。
His comments on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show came as Ian Read, chairman and CEO of the US drugmaker, prepared to fly to London today to be quizzed by lawmakers about his plans for what would be the biggest foreign takeover in UK history.
卡梅倫是在英國廣播公司(BBC)的《安德魯•馬爾秀》(Andrew Marr Show)節目上發表上述言論的。輝瑞董事長兼首席執行官伊恩•里德(Ian Read)定于今日飛抵倫敦，接受英國議員對其提出的這宗可能成為英國史上最大外資并購的交易的質詢。
Mr Cameron last week left open the possibility of subjecting any deal to a “public interest test” after criticism from the opposition Labour party that he was not doing enough to safeguard Britain’s science base. But his remarks yesterday made clear his desire to avoid doing anything to undermine the UK’s reputation as a welcoming place for foreign investors.
卡梅倫上周沒有排除任何交易都需接受“公共利益測試”的可能性，此前工黨批評稱，他沒有做出足夠努力來保障英國的科學根基。但他昨日發表的言論明確表明，他渴望避免做出破壞英國歡迎外國投資者聲譽的任何事。
Downing Street has struggled to find a consistent stance towards Pfizer as ministers have vacillated between welcoming the mooted deal as a sign of the attractiveness of UK life sciences and tougher rhetoric on the need to protect jobs.
唐寧街迄今竭力拿捏針對輝瑞的一致立場，部長級官員的態度搖擺不定，一會兒歡迎輝瑞提出收購，認為這表明了英國生命科學的吸引力，一會兒又發表比較生硬的言論，稱需要保護就業。
Mr Read will attend separate hearings of the parliamentary committees on business and science tomorrow and on Wednesday. According to people close to Pfizer, he will say that his promise made earlier this month to maintain 20 per cent of the two companies’ combined research workforce in Britain for at least five years after any deal is legally binding under UK takeover rules.
里德將于明后兩天分別出席英國議會商業委員會和科學委員會的聽證會。據接近輝瑞的知情人士表示，里德將會表示，他在本月早些時候做出的承諾，即在交易完成后至少5年內將兩家公司20%的研發人員留在英國，根據英國的并購規則是具有法律約束力的。
AstraZeneca has so far refused to enter talks, arguing that the £50-per-share proposal from its US rival significantly undervalues the company.
阿斯利康迄今拒絕展開談判，辯稱輝瑞每股50英鎊的出價顯著低估了該公司。
AstraZeneca’s future is also raising concern in Sweden, where it has a big presence. The heads of the Karolinska Institutet, a Stockholm university that accounts for almost half of the medical research in Sweden, and chairman of the body behind the Nobel Prizes, told the Financial Times they were worried by Pfizer’s approach.
阿斯利康的未來也引發了瑞典的關切——阿斯利康在瑞典擁有大量業務。卡羅林斯卡學院(Karolinska Institutet)負責人以及諾貝爾評獎委員會的主席都對英國《金融時報》表示，他們對輝瑞的收購提議感到擔憂。位于斯德哥爾摩的卡羅林斯卡學院從事著瑞典近一半的醫學研究。
