改善资产负债表提高公司评级.doc

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改善资产负债表 提高公司评级
How CFOs Solidify and Beautify Balance Sheets
来源：天和网
核心提示：各个公司都在努力寻求办法来强化公司的资产负债表，提高公司的股本比率，以改善其评级状况。
Companies are weatherproofing their balance sheets ahead of a coming storm. Savings measures are being implemented for operational business. Corporate finance departments are looking to strengthen their balance sheets in order to improve ratings. These measures are not always enduring, however.

【www.cfo-报道】在挑战来临之前，公司会提高自己资产负债表的抵抗力。在实际操作中储蓄手段已经得到应用，为了提高评定等级，公司财务部门都在寻求方法强化资产负债表。但是，那些方法的持久性却不强。
In the Ruhrort district of Duisburg, an important German trade and industrial city on the Rhine River, preparations are being made for a slump. There, Haniel Group, a trading house steeped in tradition, is selling portions of its holdings in major German companies Metro and Celesio in order to reduce its debt. CFO Dr. Florian Funck’s goal is to free up €400 million in total – €100 million through the group’s shares in Celesio and €300 million from Metro. At the same time, the group wants to remain the majority shareholder in both companies with 50% and 30% holdings in them, respectively.
杜伊斯堡鲁尔河口地区是德国莱茵河上一个重要的贸易和工业城市，正在为衰退做准备。那里一家重视传统的交易公司哈尼尔集团正在出售所持有的大型德国公司麦德龙和塞拉西药店的部分股份以减少债务。财务总监Florian Funck的目标是总体上回收4亿欧元——一亿欧元的麦德龙股份以及三亿欧元的塞拉西股份。同时，集团希望继续成为两个集团的大股东，分别持有两个公司50%和30%的股份。
The primary purpose for selling the shares is to tighten the company’s balance sheet; indirectly, this will also boost its creditworthiness. In doing this, Haniel is not alone. “Lots of what companies are doing with their balance sheets right now serves to improve their ratings,” Kai Hartmann, head of corporate finance at financial services provider Youmex, told CFO Insight. The mechanism is clear: reduce total assets, improve equity ratios and strengthen your rating, he says.
出售股份的主要目的为了强化公司资产负债表。间接的，这也将促进公司信誉。哈尼尔并不是唯一这样做的人。金融投资服务提供商Youmex的公司财务主管哈特曼说：“许多公司现在都在改善自己的资产负债表，以提高公司评级。”他说，这个道理很简单：减少总资产,以提高股本比率和加强公司评级。
Selling accounts receivable takes the strain off working capital
出售应收账款以滤掉营运资本
Companies are using different approaches to achieve their goals. Aside from selling their share holdings, there are other starting points – working capital, for instance. The increasing prevalence of accounts receivable loans plus growing numbers of inventory facilities are causing companies to fall short of their target equity ratios and profit goals.
公司正在使用不同的方法来实现自己的目标，除了出售自己的股份，还有其他的方法——例如营运资本。应收账款贷款的普遍应用，以及存货设施的增加使公司缺乏目标股本比率和利润目标。
One loophole, for example, exists in selling receivables to investors through true sales – a kind of internationally viable factoring. With this solution, receivables simply disappear from the balance sheet. And, unlike with typical terms of payment, the money doesn’t take 1 to 2 months to show up. Instead it is back again in a few business days in the form of cash that will lower debt and reduce the working capital lines. Ideally, this will also improve a company’s negotiating power with banks. The cost of selling receivable are based on the creditworthiness of the debtors and are between 40 and 350 basis points over the Euribor index.
例如公司在真正销售过程中向投资者出售应收账款就存在一个漏洞——这种保理在国际上是可行的。通过这种方法，应收账款可以很简单的就从资产负债表中消失。而且，不像传统的付款条件，这些钱不需要花上1-2个月的时间出现。相反，在几个工作日之后它就又以现金的形式出现，这将降低债务，减少营运资本线。理想状况下，这将提高公司与银行的议价能力应收账款的销售成本基于债务人的信誉，欧元银行间拆放款指数在40到350个基点之间。
Winfred Klar, CFO of the packaging company Mauser Group, points out that introducing the system carries a considerable administrative cost. This exists especially in the transparent display for customers or debtors and the terms of payment associated with it. At the same time, the debtor is subjected to a credit and risk check. Compared to that, more liquidity is available quicker through the sale of international debt along with the reduction of debt for their banks and an improvement in the balance sheet figures and ratings with all the associated positive effects.
包装公司毛瑟枪集团CFO温弗雷德指出，引入这个系统需要相当大的管理成本。尤其在向客户和债务人的透明展示或与之相关的付款条款中，尤其如此。同时，债务人要受到信贷和风险检查。相比之下，通过出售国际债务，以及银行债务的减少，资产负债表和评级的改善和其他所有相关的积极作用，流动性的可用速度会更快。
For companies with good cash positions, purchasing accounts receivable from prime borrowers is a very good investment opportunity. It is both a strong option for parking liquidity somewhere with an interest rate greater than zero as well as an alternative to buying bonds.
如果公司现金头寸良好，那采取从借款人采购应收账款时一个很好的投资机会。这不但对于以大于零的利率停放流动性是一个很好的选择，而且也是购买债券的另外之选。
Higher equity ratios allow more breathing room
更高的股本比率可以为公司提供更多的喘息空间
Another approach to strengthening corporate balance sheets is through the capitalisation of hidden assets, which can be liquidated by selling tangible assets. The true sale of cashflow-generating assets can relieve stress on the balance sheet while raising hidden reserves can improve equity. Here, real estate holdings, power plants and manufacturing facilities come to mind. The capital that this frees up improves liquidity positions, increases equity and creates more breathing room that can either be used opportunistically in the short term or strategically in the long term.
另一种加强企业资产负债表的方法是隐藏资本的资本化，这可以通过出售有形资产来清算。现金流生成资产的真实出售可以缓解资产负债表的压力，与此同时，增加隐藏准备金可以提高股本。说到这里你可能就会想到到房地产控股、发电厂和生产设施。这样释放的资金可以改善流动性头寸，增加股本，为公司创造了更多喘息的空间，无论是公司的短期计划还是长期策略。

A company’s rating will significantly improve with a comfortable equity position. If a company raises additional mezzanine capital so that its equity ratio exceeds 50%, this will also further improve its rating. Only once this threshold has been eclipsed will a company typically receive an investment grade rating, which also makes it possible to issue bonds less expensively. “The annual costs for mezzanine capital are between 8 and 15%, the interest charges for the true sale 3.5 to 6% and the coupon for an SME loan is between 5 and 7.5% per year,” says Hartmann.

有了比较适合的股权，公司的评级将有显著改善。如果一个公司提出了额外的夹层资本,使其股本比率超过50%,这也将进一步改善公司评级。只有这个阈值被打破，公司才会得到一个投资级别的信用评级，这也会使公司有机会在发行债券时变得更便宜。哈特曼说：“夹层资本的年成本在8%-15%之间，真实交易中的利息费用在3.5%-6%之间，而对于一个中小企业每年的贷款息票在5%-7.5%之间。”
编译：王娜

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