China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande Group, is in talks to buy the UK housebuilder Cala Homes in what would be the first Chinese venture into the UK’s large-scale housebuilding sector¹.

中国第二大房地产开发商恒大集团(Evergrande Group)正洽谈收购英国住宅建筑商Cala Homes，如果收购成功，这将是中资企业首次将并购触角伸向英国大规模住宅建筑领域。

A sale would offer a potential exit for Cala’s investors², the insurer Legal & General and the real estate³ specialists Patron Capital, which bought the company in 2013 from Lloyds Banking⁴ Group.

此次出售将为Cala的股东——英国法通保险公司(Legal & General)以及房地产专家Patron Capital提供一次潜在的退出机会。2013年，这两家公司从劳埃德银行集团(Lloyds Banking Group)手中买下了Cala。

But people close to the talks stressed that they were “preliminary” in nature and that no deal was guaranteed.

但接近谈判的人士强调，他们正在“初步”接触，不一定能够达成协议。

Hong Kong-listed Evergrande approached Cala’s owners some months ago about a potential purchase, according to three people briefed on the discussions. This prompted L&G and Patron to engage investment bankers at Lazard to advise them on the talks. Evergrande is being advised by KPMG.

三位消息人士称，几个月前，在香港上市的恒大集团接触了Cala的股东，提出可能的收购事宜。这促使法通保险公司和Patron Capital聘请瑞德(Lazard)的投资银行家为谈判提供咨询。恒大由毕马威(KPMG)提供咨询。

Cala’s owners are not thought to be in discussions with other potential buyers, but one person close to the discussions said that “nothing is off the table”, including a stock market listing of the company.

据认为，Cala的股东并未与其他潜在买家商谈，但一位知情人士说，“未排除任何选项”，包括把Cala推到股票市场上市。

Cala said: “Thanks to the quality of our brand and strong financial and trading performance, from time to time we may find ourselves the subject of speculation⁵ but from our perspective it is very much business as usual.”

Cala表示：“鉴于我们拥有优质的品牌，并且在财务和经营方面表现强劲，我们不时会发现自己成为猜测的对象，但从我们的视角看，业务一切如常。”

Evergrande has little experience of housebuilding outside its home market. While Chinese property developers are active in the UK — Dalian Wanda, for example, is constructing a residential⁶ scheme in London — there have been no Chinese takeovers of UK housebuilders.

恒大几乎没有在国内市场以外的住宅建筑经验。尽管中国房地产开发商在英国表现活跃——例如，大连万达(Dalian Wanda)正在伦敦兴建一个住宅项目——但中国企业还没有收购过英国房屋建筑商。

Cala, which built 1,150 homes in the year to June, focuses on higher-priced property in south-east England while also operating in Scotland and the Midlands.

在截止今年6月的一年里，Cala已建成1150套住房。该公司主要在英格兰东南部开发较高价格的物业项目，同时也在苏格兰和英格兰中部开展业务。

L&G and Patron each bought a 46.5 per cent stake in Cala in 2013, with Cala’s management acquiring 7 per cent in a deal that valued the company at ￡210m. Its output has since risen and analysts⁷ at Barclays earlier this year said L&G’s stake was worth about ￡380m.

2013年，法通保险公司和Patron Capital分别收购了Cala 46.5%的股权，Cala管理层收购了7%的股权——那笔交易对公司的估值为2.1亿英镑。自那以来，Cala的房屋建造量有所上升。今年早些时候，巴克莱(Barclays)分析师表示，法通保险公司所持的Cala股权价值约为3.8亿英镑。

L&G, Patron and Lazard declined to comment. Evergrande had not res-ponded to a request for comment at publication time.

法通保险公司、Patron Capital和瑞德拒绝置评。截止交稿时，恒大没有回复记者的置评请求。