巴菲特致股东的信（2006年）③收购

Acquisitions

收购

We began 2006 by completing the three acquisitions pending at yearend 2005, spending about $6 billion for PacifiCorp, Business Wire and Applied Underwriters. All are performing very well.

我们在 2006 年初完成了 2005 年的三项收购，总金额达 60 亿美元，所有企业进展都相当顺利。此三家企业分别为太平洋电力(PacifiCorp)、商业资讯公司(BusinessWire)、工伤赔偿保险公司(Applied Underwriters)。

The highlight of the year, however, was our July 5th acquisition of most of ISCAR, an Israeli company, and our new association with its chairman, Eitan Wertheimer, and CEO, Jacob Harpaz. The story here began on October 25, 2005, when I received a 1¼-page letter from Eitan, of whom I then knew nothing. The letter began, “I am writing to introduce you to ISCAR,” and proceeded to describe a cutting-tool business carried on in 61 countries. Then Eitan wrote, “We have for some time considered the issues of generational transfer and ownership that are typical for large family enterprises, and have given much thought to ISCAR’s future. Our conclusion is that Berkshire Hathaway would be the ideal home for ISCAR. We believe that ISCAR would continue to thrive as a part of your portfolio of businesses.”

不过，去年的收购亮点是在 7 月 5 日取得以色列伊斯卡公司(ISCAR)的多数股权，并与该公司董事长艾登·威萨姆(EitanWertheimer)，及 CEO 雅各布·哈帕斯(JacobHarpaz)建立新的关系。故事开始于 2005 年 10 月 25 日，我收到 Eitan 一封一页多点的信，当时我对他一无所知。信开头写道："这封信的目的，是向你介绍 ISCAR 公司"，接着描述了它在 61 个国家经营的切削工具业务。Eitan 继续写道："一段时间以来，我们一直在思考大型家族企业典型的代际传承和所有权方面的问题，并慎重地思考了 ISCAR 的未来。我们的结论是，伯克希尔将是 ISCAR 理想的归宿，我们相信，ISCAR 将作为其业务组合一员而继续蓬勃发展"。

Overall, Eitan’s letter made the quality of the company and the character of its management leap off the page. It also made me want to learn more, and in November, Eitan, Jacob and ISCAR’s CFO, Danny Goldman, came to Omaha. A few hours with them convinced me that if we were to make a deal, we would be teaming up with extraordinarily talented managers who could be trusted to run the business after a sale with all of the energy and dedication that they had exhibited previously. However, having never bought a business based outside of the U.S. (though I had bought a number of foreign stocks), I needed to get educated on some tax and jurisdictional matters. With that task completed, Berkshire purchased 80% of ISCAR for $4 billion. The remaining 20% stays in the hands of the Wertheimer family, making it our valued partner.

总体来看，Eitan 的来信成功地突显了该公司的质量以及管理层的特质，同时也让我有了更深入了解的念头。到了 11 月份，Eitan、Jacob 和 ISCAR 的 CEO 丹尼·高曼 Danny Goldman来到奥马哈。几小时的会面时间，使我坚信此一收购案若能成功，这个值得信任、能力超凡的管理层，将能顺利地加入伯克希尔。因为他们将能秉持收购前的精力十足和奉献态度，继续经营该事业。然而，由于伯克希尔从未收购总部设于美国以外的企业(尽管我买过许多外国企业的股票)，故需要研究相关税制和司法方面知识。了解过后，伯克希尔以 40 亿美元，收购了 80%的 ISCAR 股权，而其余 20%仍由 Wertheimer 家族继续持有，并成为我们宝贵的合作伙伴。

ISCAR’s products are small, consumable cutting tools that are used in conjunction with large and expensive machine tools. It’s a business without magic except for that imparted by the people who run it. But Eitan, Jacob and their associates are true managerial magicians who constantly develop tools that make their customers’ machines more productive. The result: ISCAR makes money because it enables its customers to make more money. There is no better recipe for continued success.

ISCAR 生产小型、易耗性的切削工具，其主要是高价大型机床设备的零组件。这个业务没有任何神奇之处，主要是管理者赋予的价值。而 Eitan、Jacob 与团队成员，都是真正的管理魔术师，不断研发出新型工具，使顾客的机器更具生产效率。所以结论是：ISCAR 的获利之道，是帮助顾客赚更多的钱。应该没有比这更能创造持续成功的秘诀了吧！

In September, Charlie and I, along with five Berkshire associates, visited ISCAR in Israel. We – and I mean every one of us – have never been more impressed with any operation. At ISCAR, as throughout Israel, brains and energy are ubiquitous. Berkshire shareholders are lucky to have joined with Eitan, Jacob, Danny and their talented associates.

在 9 月份，查理和我以及伯克希尔 5 位同事，前往以色列参观了 ISCAR 公司。我们每个人都对其营运方面的表现赞叹不已。在 ISCAR 就像整个以色列一样，到处充满了具备聪明才智和充沛活力的人才。对伯克希尔的股东们来说，能有 Eitan、Jacob、Danny 及其人才辈出的团队一同加入，实在是三生有幸。

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A few months later, Berkshire again became “the buyer of choice” in a deal brought to us by my friend, John Roach, of Fort Worth. John, many of you will remember, was Chairman of Justin Industries, which we bought in 2000. At that time John was helping John Justin, who was terminally ill, find a permanent home for his company. John Justin died soon after we bought Justin Industries, but it has since been run exactly as we promised him it would be.

数月后，我在沃斯堡的朋友约翰·罗奇(John Roach)，拜他的牵线所赐，伯克希尔又再度成为"首选买家"。大家应该还记得，John Roach 是伯克希尔集团 2000 年所收购 Justin 工业的董事长。当时 John 正帮助身患绝症的约翰·贾斯丁(John Justin)为他的公司寻找永久的归宿。就在伯克希尔收购后，John Justin 旋即去世，但公司一直按我们当时承诺的那样运营。

Visiting me in November, John Roach brought along Paul Andrews, Jr., owner of about 80% of TTI, a Fort Worth distributor of electronic components. Over a 35-year period, Paul built TTI from $112,000 of sales to $1.3 billion. He is a remarkable entrepreneur and operator.

在 11 月，John Roach 带着保罗·安德鲁(Paul Andrews,Jr.)来拜访我。Paul 拥有沃斯堡一家电子零件分销商TTI 的 80%股权。历经 35 年的努力，Paul 使 TTI 的销售额从 11.2 万美元提高到 13 亿美元，他是一位不可多得的创业家与经营者。

Paul, 64, loves running his business. But not long ago he happened to witness how disruptive the death of a founder can be both to a private company’s employees and the owner’s family. What starts out as disruptive, furthermore, often evolves into destructive. About a year ago, therefore, Paul began to think about selling TTI. His goal was to put his business in the hands of an owner he had carefully chosen, rather than allowing a trust officer or lawyer to conduct an auction after his death.

Paul 今年 64 岁，非常热衷于经营这份事业。但就在不久前，他亲眼目睹私有企业创始人过世，对公司员工及其家人所造成的冲击。尤其是此一突如其来的变化，常常会进而演变成最终的毁灭。因此在一年前，Paul 就开始考虑出售 TTI，目标是将公司亲自交到细心挑选的买主手中，而不愿一手创立的企业，任由信托人员或律师，在他过世后予以拍卖。

Paul rejected the idea of a “strategic” buyer, knowing that in the pursuit of “synergies,” an owner of that type would be apt to dismantle what he had so carefully built, a move that would uproot hundreds of his associates (and perhaps wound TTI’s business in the process). He also ruled out a private equity firm, which would very likely load the company with debt and then flip it as soon as possible.

Paul 直接拒绝了某些"战略性"买主。因为他知道，这类企业的所有人，通常为追求所谓的"协同效应"，倾向将他精心建立的事业予以肢解，使得数以百计的员工失去依靠(此一过程也可能让 TTI 的事业受到重创)。他也排除掉私募股权机构的买主，因为此类公司未来势必将因此背负过多债务，而只要一有机会就尽快转手卖出。

That left Berkshire. Paul and I met on the morning of November 15th and made a deal before lunch. Later he wrote me: “After our meeting, I am confident that Berkshire is the right owner for TTI . . . I am proud of our past and excited about our future.” And so are Charlie and I.

最后，只有伯克希尔符合他的心意。Paul 与我在 11 月 15 日早晨会面，并在午餐前达成协议。不久后他写信给我："双方会晤之后，我坚信伯克希尔就是 TTI 的最佳拥有者。我对我们的过去感到自豪，而对未来则感到兴奋不已"。查理与我也深有同感。

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We also made some “tuck-in” acquisitions during 2006 at Fruit of the Loom (“Fruit”), MiTek, CTB, Shaw and Clayton. Fruit made the largest purchases. First, it bought Russell Corp., a leading producer of athletic apparel and uniforms for about $1.2 billion (including assumed debt) and in December it agreed to buy the intimate apparel business of VF Corp. Together, these acquisitions add about $2.2 billion to Fruit’s sales and bring with them about 23,000 employees.

在 2006 年，我们还进行了一些"补强性"收购，比如鲜果布衣(Fruit of the Loom)、MiTek、CTB、Shaw 地毯、以及克莱顿(Clayton)。其中鲜果布衣的收购规模最大。首先，以 12 亿美元(包含负债)收购运动服饰、及制服的生产商罗素公司(Russell Corp.)。接着在 12 月，同意收购威富公司(VF Corp.)内衣制造业务。这些收购，共计为鲜果布衣增加了 22 亿美元的营收，也带来约 2.3 万名员工。

Charlie and I love it when we can acquire businesses that can be placed under managers, such as John Holland at Fruit, who have already shown their stuff at Berkshire. MiTek, for example, has made 14 acquisitions since we purchased it in 2001, and Gene Toombs has delivered results from these deals far in excess of what he had predicted. In effect, we leverage the managerial talent already with us by these tuck-in deals. We will make many more.

查理和我非常乐意收购一些可以置于伯克希尔现有经理人旗下管理的业务，比如鲜果布衣的经理人约翰·霍兰德(John Holland)，他们已经在伯克希尔集团中发光发热。以 Mitek 公司为例，自 2001 年被我们收购后，该公司给已进行了 14 次收购，Gene Toombs 通过这些收购所获得的成果，远远超过他先前的预期。事实上，我们也通过这些补强性收购，充分利用了已有的管理人才，达到事半功倍的效果，这是值得我们继续努力的方向。

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We continue, however, to need “elephants” in order for us to use Berkshire’s flood of incoming cash. Charlie and I must therefore ignore the pursuit of mice and focus our acquisition efforts on much bigger game.

然而，为运用伯克希尔涌入的大量现金，我们仍然需要"大象级"的企业作为收购的目标。因此，查理和我必须放弃对老鼠的追求，将心力投注于更大的收购案上面。

Our exemplar is the older man who crashed his grocery cart into that of a much younger fellow while both were shopping. The elderly man explained apologetically that he had lost track of his wife and was preoccupied searching for her. His new acquaintance said that by coincidence his wife had also wandered off and suggested that it might be more efficient if they jointly looked for the two women. Agreeing, the older man asked his new companion what his wife looked like. “She’s a gorgeous blonde,” the fellow answered, “with a body that would cause a bishop to go through a stained glass window, and she’s wearing tight white shorts. How about yours?” The senior citizen wasted no words: “Forget her, we’ll look for yours.”

我们所效法的精神以下面的故事做比喻：一个老男人推着购物车，与商场里的一个年轻小伙子相撞。老男人满怀歉意地解释，因老伴走丢专心寻找她，所以一时不慎。巧合的是，这位初识者竟然也表示与妻子走散，建议两人一起寻找，可能将更有效率。老男人点点头，询问这个小伙子的太太长相如何。小伙子回答："她是个金发美女！而且身材好到能让主教冲破教堂彩绘玻璃窗，而且她今天穿的是件白色紧身热裤。那你的太太呢？"这位老男人立刻脱口而出："别管她了，我们找你的太太就好"。

What we are looking for is described on page 25. If you have an acquisition candidate that fits, call me – day or night. And then watch me shatter a stained glass window.

我们正在寻找的对象，在股东信中有详细说明，如果阁下有符合要求的收购标的，不管什么时候都欢迎打电话给我。然后，就看着我撞碎彩绘玻璃窗吧！

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Now, let’s examine the four major operating sectors of Berkshire. Lumping their financial figures together impedes analysis. So we’ll look at them as four separate businesses, starting with the all– important insurance group.

现在，就让我们来看看伯克希尔的四大运营业务。若将它们的财务数字合并一起，将会妨碍我们的分析。所以，我们将他们视为四大独立业务分别加以探讨，就从对伯克希尔而言最重要的保险事业开始。