Business this week
Jun 25th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Xstrata’s all-share offer to Anglo American for a “merger of equals” was forcefully rebuffed by Anglo’s board. Big investors in Anglo urged it to keep the door open to a sweetened deal, which would create the world’s third-biggest mining company.
英美资源公司董事会不屑一顾的拒绝了斯特拉塔公司全股份平等合并的提议，而同时该公司的大股东们则力主就这一将造就全球第三大矿产公司的交易与英美资源公司进行谈判协商。

Addax Petroleum agreed to an C$8.3 billion ($7.2 billion) takeover from Sinopec, giving the Chinese state-controlled oil firm access to Addax’s operations exploring off the West African coast and developing the Taq Taq field in Iraq. The deal comes shortly before the Iraqi government prepares to auction off oil contracts to foreign company。
Addax石油公司同意了中石化提出的 83亿加元（72亿美元）的收购方案，这将使得中石化这家国有石油公司进入addax公司在非洲西海岸及在伊拉克库尔德地区的石油勘探开采业务。在伊拉克政府准备将石油合约拍卖给外国公司之后，这两家公司很快的就达成了这项协议。

America and the European Union lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organisation alleging that China is placing unfair levies on its exports of raw materials, such as bauxite and zinc, thereby providing cheaper materials to manufacturers at home.
美国和欧盟向世贸组织提起诉讼称，中国对其稀有金属如矾土，锌等的出口征收不公正的关税，以便使国内制造厂可以获得更加便宜的原材料。

Any dream will do
Boeing yet again postponed the maiden test flight of its 787 Dreamliner, this time because of structural weakness in the area where the wing attaches to the body of the aeroplane. The company had only recently insisted that the flight would take place by the end of the month. A new timetable will be announced within the next few weeks for the project, which is already two years behind schedule.
波音公司又一次推迟了波音787梦想飞机的首次试飞。这次是因为机翼与机身的连接区域的结构性缺陷。而在不久前，波音公司宣称一定会在本月底进行试飞。这个已经落后预期进度两年的项目会有一个新的进度表。

The European Central Bank provided a record €442 billion ($620 billion) to the euro area’s banking system through its offer of unlimited one-year funds at 1% interest. The measure has been dubbed a “stimulus by stealth”.
欧洲央行通过发放利率为1%的一年期贷款形式向欧洲地区银行系统破纪录的注资4420亿加元（6200亿美元）。这一措施被称为暗中刺激。

The World Bank predicted that the economies of the developing countries would grow by only 1.2% this year, significantly below last year’s growth rate of 5.9%. By contrast, the OECD raised its forecast of economic growth for the first time in two years. The Paris-based organisation of 30 industrialised countries now expects GDP among its members to contract by 4.1% in 2009 and to grow by a modest 0.7% in 2010.
世界银行预测，发展中国家的经济今年将仅有1.2%的增长，明显低于去年5.9%的增长率。相比之下，OECD则两年来首次提高了经济增长的预测值。这个总部设在巴黎，成员为30个工业化国家的组织预计其成员国的GDP2009年将缩水4.1%， 2010年则会有0.7%的轻微增长。

The Federal Reserve sounded a bit more optimistic about the American economy than it has for a while. After a two-day meeting, the Fed said that the “pace of economic contraction is slowing”, though the economy would “remain weak for a time”. The central bank played down the threat from deflation, a threat it had emphasised earlier this year.
联邦储备局目前看起来对美国经济开始持更加乐观的态度了。在一个持续两天的会议之后，美联储声称虽然美国经济在一段时间内仍将很脆弱，但经济萎缩的速度正在降低。同时它也极力淡化通货紧缩的危险，而这种危险是它年初时极力强调要注意的。

Beware of the bear
小心熊市

Russian stockmarkets fell further when the World Bank forecast Russia’s economy would shrink by 7.9% this year. Russian indices have tumbled this month from their previous highs for the year, as have stockmarkets in many emerging economies. (China’s stockmarkets bucked the trend by reaching their highest levels for a year.) Analysts have sounded a note of caution about American and European stockmarkets, too, warning that underlying economic fundamentals are not as strong as the rallies of the past three months would suggest.
在世行预测俄罗斯经济今年将缩水7.9%后，俄罗斯股市应声大跌，和其他新兴经济体的股市一样（除中国股市逆势上扬，达今年最高水平外），在过去这一个月里，俄罗斯指数从年内最高点一直在往下跌。分析家们对欧美股市也发出警告，称经济潜在基本面并没有过去三个月里经济复原所显示的那么强劲。

Apple said it sold 1m of its next-generation iPhone 3GS handsets during the first weekend the device was on sale. The figure was higher than most had expected, providing a fillip to Steve Jobs as he prepared to return to the helm after six months of medical leave. This did not stop investors from speculating about the health of Apple’s chief executive, who recently underwent a liver transplant.
苹果公司称，它的下一代手机iPhone 3GS在上市的这个周末里销量已经超过100万。这一数据几乎高于所有人的预期。这对史蒂夫乔布斯也是一个刺激，在休病假六个月之后，他正准备重返岗位，掌舵苹果。然而这并不能阻止投资者们对这位总裁的健康的猜测。因为不久前他刚接受了肝移植手术。

MySpace announced more job cuts. After drastically reducing the size of its American workforce, the social-networking website slashed its international staff by two-thirds as it adapts to a sharp decline in advertising revenue.
MySpace宣布将更大规模的裁员。在大规模的削减了美国员工规模之后，由于广告收入的急剧下降，这家社交网站作出调整，削减三分之二的国际员工。

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts adjusted its plan to turn itself into a public company by proposing an offering through a merger with an affiliate already listed on the Euronext exchange. The “back door” move is viewed as a stepping stone to an eventual listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts公司改变了它原有的上市计划，将通过与已经在泛欧交易所上市的子公司合并的方式上市。这一“秘密途径”被看做是kkr在纽约交易所上市的跳板。

Let shareholders supervise？股东来做监管者？
Royal Bank of Scotland was embroiled in more controversy over executive pay when it emerged that Stephen Hester, its chief executive, would receive a compensation package worth up to £9.6m ($15.8m). The package was backed by the bank’s institutional shareholders to “incentivise” Mr Hester. His predecessor, Sir Fred Goodwin, only recently agreed to return half of his £700,000 annual pension after a public outcry
苏格兰皇家银行卷入了高管薪酬的激烈争议中，有人曝出，它的总裁。斯蒂芬海丝特，将获得高达960万英镑的补偿。这一一揽子补偿方案获得了银行大股东的支持，目的在于“激励”斯蒂芬海丝特。他的前任，弗雷德•古德温爵士，由于其高额退休金引发的公众的极大愤慨，不久前不得不同意退还70万英镑年退休金的一半。

The number of people with net assets of at least $1m (excluding their homes) fell by 14.9% in 2008, according to an annual report from Capgemini and Merrill Lynch. The total wealth of these 8.6m “high net-worth individuals” stood at $32.8 trillion. Over half of the super-rich live in America, Japan and Germany, but China passed Britain to take fourth place for the first time.
凯捷和美林的一份年度报告指出，2008年净资产超过100万美元（不包括家庭资产）的人数下降了14.9%。这些高净值财富人，总数达860万，其总资产降为32.8万亿美元。超过一半的超级富豪分布在美国，日本，德国，而中国则超过英国，第一次上升到第四位。