巴菲特致股东的信（1997年）⑨1997年的收购活动

Acquisitions of 1997

In 1997, we agreed to acquire Star Furniture and International Dairy Queen (a deal that closed early in 1998). Both businesses fully meet our criteria: They are understandable; possess excellent economics; and are run by outstanding people.

1997 年的收购活动

1997 年我们同意买下明星家具(Star Furniture)与国际冰雪皇后(Dairy Queen 在 1998 年初完成)，两家公司都完全符合我们的标准：业务易于理解、拥有绝佳的竞争优势，并且由杰出的经理人管理。

The Star transaction has an interesting history. Whenever we buy into an industry whose leading participants aren't known to me, I always ask our new partners, "Are there any more at home like you?" Upon our purchase of Nebraska Furniture Mart in 1983, therefore, the Blumkin family told me about three outstanding furniture retailers in other parts of the country. At the time, however, none was for sale.

明星家具的交易有个相当有趣的故事，每当我们跨足一个原本我们不熟悉的产业，我都会习惯性地问一问新加入的合作伙伴：除了你们以外，还有没有像你们一样的企业？早在 1983 年我们买下内布拉斯加家具店时，我就问过 B 夫人家族这个问题，当时她告诉我全美其它地方还有三家不错的家具零售商可以考虑，不过很可惜在当时没有任何一家有出售的意愿。

Many years later, Irv Blumkin learned that Bill Child, CEO of R.C. Willey -- one of the recommended three -- might be interested in merging, and we promptly made the deal described in the 1995 report. We have been delighted with that association -- Bill is the perfect partner. Furthermore, when we asked Bill about industry standouts, he came up with the remaining two names given me by the Blumkins, one of these being Star Furniture of Houston. But time went by without there being any indication that either of the two was available.

多年后，B 夫人家族的 Irv Blumkin 得知当初获得推荐的三家公司之一 R.C.Willey威利家具 CEO 比尔·柴尔德(Bill Child)有意出售，我们立刻把握良机促成交易，这项收购在 1995 年的年报已向各位报告过，事后我们对这笔交易也很满意，Bill 是完美的合作伙伴，当然我也不忘问问 Bill 相同的问题，请他推荐其它杰出的同业，结果得到的答案与 B 夫人所说的一致，其中一家就是位于休斯顿的明星家具，只是随着时光的流逝没有一家有意愿出售。

On the Thursday before last year's annual meeting, however, Bob Denham of Salomon told me that Melvyn Wolff, the long-time controlling shareholder and CEO of Star, wanted to talk. At our invitation, Melvyn came to the meeting and spent his time in Omaha confirming his positive feelings about Berkshire. I, meanwhile, looked at Star's financials, and liked what I saw.

而就在去年年度股东会的前一个周四，所罗门公司的董事长鲍勃·德纳姆(Bob Denham)告诉我明星家具的大股东兼 CEO 梅尔文·沃尔夫(Melvyn Wolff)想跟我谈谈，应我们的邀请，Melvyn 光临奥马哈参加了年会，并且对于伯克希尔的印象不错，而于此同时，我也看了明星家具的财务报表，一切正如我所预期。

A few days later, Melvyn and I met in New York and made a deal in a single, two-hour session. As was the case with the Blumkins and Bill Child, I had no need to check leases, work out employment contracts, etc. I knew I was dealing with a man of integrity and that's what counted.

几天后，Melvyn 与我再度在纽约碰面，前后只花了两个钟头的会谈就达成了交易，而如同先前与 B 夫人家族及 Bill Child 的经历一样，我不需要再去查核租约、员工雇用合约等，我知道我正在和一位具有正直人格的人打交道，这样就足够了。

Though the Wolff family's association with Star dates back to 1924, the business struggled until Melvyn and his sister Shirley Toomin took over in 1962. Today Star operates 12 stores -- ten in Houston and one each in Austin and Bryan -- and will soon move into San Antonio as well. We won't be surprised if Star is many times its present size a decade from now.

虽然 Wolff 家族与明星家具的关系可以追溯到 1924 年以前，但是该公司直到 Melvyn 跟他妹妹雪莉·图明(Shirly Toomin 在广告设计方面特长帮助明星家具在竞争中脱颖而出)在 1962 年接手经营后才有起色，时至今日，星辰总共有 12 家分店，其中 10 家在休斯顿、另外 2 家在奥斯丁与布莱恩，还有一家新店即将在圣安东尼奥开业，我想十年后明星家具规模是现在数倍我一点都不会感到意外。

Here's a story illustrating what Melvyn and Shirley are like: When they told their associates of the sale, they also announced that Star would make large, special payments to those who had helped them succeed -- and then defined that group as everyone in the business. Under the terms of our deal, it was Melvyn and Shirley's money, not ours, that funded this distribution. Charlie and I love it when we become partners with people who behave like that.

下面的一则故事充分说明 Melvyn 与 Shirley 是怎么样的人：当明星家具正式宣布出售公司时，他们同时也公布将支付一笔大额的红利给所有帮助公司成功的人士，范围包含公司上上下下所有的员工，而根据交易的合约内容，这笔钱将由 Melvyn 与 Shirley 自掏腰包，查理跟我相当赞赏即将与我们共事的合伙人能有这样的举动。

The Star transaction closed on July 1. In the months since, we've watched Star's already-excellent sales and earnings growth accelerate further. Melvyn and Shirley will be at the annual meeting, and I hope you get a chance to meet them.

明星家具的交易案在 7 月 1 日正式完成，而在之后的几个月，明星家具本来已经表现相当不错的营收又继续大幅成长，Melvyn 与 Shirley 将会出席今年的股东年会，届时希望大家能够前来与他们见见面。

Next acquisition: International Dairy Queen. There are 5,792 Dairy Queen stores operating in 23 countries -- all but a handful run by franchisees -- and in addition IDQ franchises 409 Orange Julius operations and 43 Karmelkorn operations. In 190 locations, "treat centers" provide some combination of the three products.

另一个并购案：国际冰雪皇后 DQ，总共有 5792 家门店，分布在全球的 23 个国家，除了 34 家是自营店外，其余皆为加盟，此外还有 409 家 Orange Julius 加盟店与 43 家 Karmelkorn 店，其中有 190 家门店同时提供三种甜品选择。

For many years IDQ had a bumpy history. Then, in 1970, a Minneapolis group led by John Mooty and Rudy Luther took control. The new managers inherited a jumble of different franchising agreements, along with some unwise financing arrangements that had left the company in a precarious condition. In the years that followed, management rationalized the operation, extended food service to many more locations, and, in general, built a strong organization.

早期冰雪皇后的命运多舛，在 1970 年代，来自明尼阿波利斯集团(Minneapolis Group)的约翰·穆蒂(John Mooty)与鲁迪·路德(Rudy Luther)接手了该公司，新的管理层面对的是由前任遗留下来混乱的加盟合约以及不合理的融资计划所造成岌岌可危的窘况，所幸在接下来的几年内，新管理层导正了这种乱象，并且对外扩张新增了许多营业点，让公司经营逐渐步入正轨。

Last summer Mr. Luther died, which meant his estate needed to sell stock. A year earlier, Dick Kiphart of William Blair & Co., had introduced me to John Mooty and Mike Sullivan, IDQ's CEO, and I had been impressed with both men. So, when we got the chance to merge with IDQ, we offered a proposition patterned on our FlightSafety acquisition, extending selling shareholders the option of choosing either cash or Berkshire shares having a slightly lower immediate value. By tilting the consideration as we did, we encouraged holders to opt for cash, the type of payment we by far prefer. Even then, only 45% of IDQ shares elected cash.

去年夏天 Luther 先生过世，他的股份因而必须对外出售，而在这之前经由威廉布莱尔公司(William Blair)的CEO 迪克·基普哈特(Dick Kiphart)的介绍，使我得以结识 John Mooty 与冰雪皇后的 CEO 迈克·沙利文(MikeSullivan)，且这两人让我印象相当深刻，也因此伯克希尔可以趁此机会与冰雪皇后合并，而我们也提出与之前并购飞安国际公司时相同的条件，提供冰雪皇后股东换成现金或股票两种不同的选择（1997 年 10 月 DQ 股价约 24美元，合并对价为 27 美元现金或 26 美元 BRK 股票，合计 5.85 亿美元，1997 年 Q3 财报 DQ 净资产 1.95 亿，净利润折合全年约 0.4 亿，每股收益 1.76，收购估值 PE=15，PB=3。过去十年 DQ 收入年化增长 7.7%，净利润年化 9.6%，毛利率 30%，净利率 9%），其中换成伯克希尔股份的条件略低于现金，因为我们更倾向于大家尽量选择现金，不过即便如此，总共也只有 45%的股东决定领取现金。

Charlie and I bring a modicum of product expertise to this transaction: He has been patronizing the Dairy Queens in Cass Lake and Bemidji, Minnesota, for decades, and I have been a regular in Omaha. We have put our money where our mouth is.

在这次的交易中，查理跟我稍微发挥了一下对于产品的知识，查理他几十年来固定光顾位于明尼苏达州卡斯湖与贝米吉的冰雪皇后，而我则是奥马哈冰雪皇后的常客，我们等于是“把钱花在嘴巴上”。

Acquisitions of 1997 In 1997, we agreed to acquire Star Furniture and International Dairy Queen (a deal that closed early in 1998). Both businesses fully meet our criteria: They are understandable; possess excellent economics; and are run by outstanding people.

A few days later, Melvyn and I met in New York and made a deal in a single, two-hour session. As was the case with the Blumkins and Bill Child, I had no need to check leases, work out employment contracts, etc. I knew I was dealing with a man of integrity and that's what counted.

The Star transaction closed on July 1. In the months since, we've watched Star's already-excellent sales and earnings growth accelerate further. Melvyn and Shirley will be at the annual meeting, and I hope you get a chance to meet them.

Charlie and I bring a modicum of product expertise to this transaction: He has been patronizing the Dairy Queens in Cass Lake and Bemidji, Minnesota, for decades, and I have been a regular in Omaha. We have put our money where our mouth is.

Acquisitions of 1997

In 1997, we agreed to acquire Star Furniture and International Dairy Queen (a deal that closed early in 1998). Both businesses fully meet our criteria: They are understandable; possess excellent economics; and are run by outstanding people.