But there's an uncomfortable truth lurking behind the storefronts.

但店面背後卻隱藏著一個令人不安的事實。

Because a lot of these stores are not owned by independent shopkeepers or even big multinationals.

因為這些商店很多都不是由獨立店主甚至大型跨國公司擁有的。

Instead, they're controlled by private equity investors.

相反，它們由私募股權投資者控制。

In fact, private equity has phoned into the UK at an unprecedented rate since Brexit, hoovering up scores of high street names such as Burger King, New Look and Pizza Express.

事實上，自英國脫歐後，私募股權基金以前所未有的速度湧入英國，收購了漢堡王、New Look 和 Pizza Express 等數十家高街品牌。

This is a story about the private equity raid on some of the best known high street companies in the UK in the aftermath of both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

這篇報道講述了在英國脫歐和 COVID-19 大流行之後，私募股權基金對英國一些最知名的高街公司的襲擊。

Now, as the UK adjusts to new economic realities, the private equity boom could pose a problem for the future of the British High Street and the millions of people who work on it.

現在，隨著英國適應新的經濟現實，私募股權投資熱潮可能會給英國高街和數百萬高街從業者的未來帶來問題。

Because most private equity is dependent on one thing.

因為大多數私募股權投資都依賴於一件事。

Debt.

債務

Let's start by unpacking how private equity works and in particular, the main tool in the industry's arsenal, the leveraged buyout.

讓我們先來了解一下私募股權投資是如何運作的，尤其是該行業的主要工具--槓桿收購。

Okay, so imagine you want to buy a little shop for say £500,000.

好吧，假設你想用 50 萬英鎊買一家小店。

You use £100,000 of your own money to pay for the deposit, but you borrow the remaining £400,000, usually from a bank.

你用自己的錢支付 10 萬英鎊的存款，但剩下的 40 萬英鎊通常是向銀行貸款。

You spend another £50,000 sprucing the place up, then sell it three years later for £800,000.

你又花了 5 萬英鎊把房子裝修一新，三年後以 80 萬英鎊的價格賣掉。

That covers your costs and whatever you still owe the bank, and you pocket the difference as profit.

這樣，你就能收回成本和還欠銀行的錢，並將差額作為利潤收入囊中。

Now, imagine that rather than you being responsible for repaying the money you borrowed, the shop itself was responsible.

現在，想象一下，不是你負責償還借來的錢，而是商店自己負責。

Not you, the shop.

不是你，是商店。

You can walk off into the sunset with all the proceeds of the sale.

你可以帶著所有的銷售收入，走向夕陽。

The shop's new owner now has to find a way of repaying what you borrowed.

現在，店鋪的新主人必須想辦法償還你的借款。

That is sort of how leveraged buyouts work.

這就是槓桿收購的運作方式。

You buy a company and fund much of the purchase price with debt or leverage, often in the form of bonds.

你收購一家公司，並用債務或槓桿（通常是債券形式）來支付大部分收購價格。

So essentially you could buy a really massive company and load it up with debt to pay for your acquisition of that company.

是以，從根本上說，你可以收購一家規模龐大的公司，並用債務來支付收購該公司的費用。

And if the company goes bust, you don't lose as much as if you paid for the whole thing with cash.

如果公司破產，你的損失也不會像用現金支付那樣大。

Let's get back to the UK.

讓我們回到英國。

To much of its existence, it was family owned.

在它存在的大部分時間裡，它都是家族企業。

And until recently, it was one of the big four supermarket chains.

直到最近，它還是四大連鎖超市之一。

Well, look and you'll know our prices are low whenever you shop at Morrison's.

只要您在莫里森購物，您就會知道我們的價格很低。

Look at this chart.

看看這張圖表。

It shows how Morrison's valuation compares to US retailers as a multiple of their earnings.

它顯示了莫里森的估值與美國零售商的盈利倍數的比較。

That's just a way of comparing companies on a like-to-like basis, even if the firms aren't the same size.

這只是在同類基礎上對公司進行比較的一種方法，即使這些公司的規模並不相同。

And in the years immediately after Brexit, the valuations were pretty comparable until the pandemic came along.

而在英國脫歐後的幾年裡，估值也相當可觀，直到大流行病出現。

Then look what happened.

然後看看發生了什麼。

The US retailers recovered with the post-pandemic spending bump.

大流行後，美國零售商的消費增長有所恢復。

Morrison's did not.

莫里森家沒有。

Morrison's valuation was cheaper compared to US peers, making it quite attractive for an external buyer.

與美國同行相比，莫里森的估值更低，是以對外部買家頗具吸引力。

So in 2021, we're just coming out of COVID lockdown.

是以，在 2021 年，我們剛剛擺脫 COVID 的封鎖。

And there is a bidding war for Morrison's between private equity firms.

此外，私募股權公司之間也在為 Morrison's 展開競購戰。

The American firm Clayton DuBillier & Rice emerged victorious, paying about £7bn in October 2021.

美國公司 Clayton DuBillier & Rice 勝出，於 2021 年 10 月支付了約 70 億英鎊。

Just a few months earlier, Morrison's had been valued at £4.5bn.

就在幾個月前，莫里森公司的估值還高達 45 億英鎊。

But even that inflated price seemed worthwhile because low interest rates meant it was easy to borrow a lot of money.

但即使是這樣的虛高價格似乎也是值得的，因為低利率意味著很容易借到大筆錢。

And Morrison's wasn't alone.

不只是莫里森一家。

Private equity piled into Britain in a big way in the years after Brexit.

英國脫歐後的幾年裡，私募股權大舉湧入英國。

Post-Brexit, there was a lot of uncertainty in the UK economy.

英國脫歐後，英國經濟存在很多不確定性。

I think that was compounded by the effects of COVID.

我認為 COVID 的影響加劇了這種情況。

And suddenly, these American private equity companies were looking at British assets that were valued far less than they were just a few months ago.

突然之間，這些美國私募股權公司看中的英國資產，其估值遠遠低於幾個月前。

Between 2016 and 2023, private equity companies spent nearly $200bn buying British companies.

2016 年至 2023 年間，私募股權公司斥資近 2000 億美元收購英國公司。

That compares to about $81bn in Germany and $36bn in France.

相比之下，德國和法國分別約為 810 億美元和 360 億美元。

Essentially, you walk down any UK high street and the chances are you're going to be looking at private equity-owned firms on either side.

基本上，你走在英國的任何一條大街上，都有可能看到兩邊的私人股權公司。

The Body Shop, Pizza Express, Wagamamas, Byron Burgers.

The Body Shop、Pizza Express、Wagamamas、Byron Burgers。

ZZ or New Look.

ZZ 或 New Look。

In fact, there are scores of high street brands that are now controlled by private equity and similar investors.

事實上，現在有幾十個高街品牌被私募股權和類似投資者控制。

And that was because British companies in general became a lot cheaper.

這是因為英國公司的價格普遍便宜了很多。

You can see that in this chart.

您可以從這張圖表中看到這一點。

Publicly traded American companies simply became a lot more valuable than British ones after Brexit.

英國脫歐後，公開交易的美國公司變得比英國公司更有價值。

A British firm that makes $1 of profit is, on average, given $11 of value.

一家英國公司的利潤為 1 美元，平均價值為 11 美元。

American firms get $20.

美國公司獲得 20 美元。

So remember that little shop we talked about earlier and how its purchase was financed with a lot of debt?

還記得我們之前談到的那家小店嗎？

In the case of Morrisons, it was something like £6.6bn.

就 Morrisons 而言，大約是 66 億英鎊。

Here's the important bit.

最重要的是

When CDNR bought Morrisons, interest rates were low.

CDNR 收購 Morrisons 時，利率很低。

But since then, they have increased.

但從那時起，它們的數量有所增加。

Around half of Morrisons' debt, that's around £3bn, is affected by interest rates going up.

Morrisons 大約一半的債務（約 30 億英鎊）會受到利率上升的影響。

So that debt is now much more expensive.

是以，現在的債務成本要高得多。

The reason that's a problem is that Morrisons competes with other supermarkets on price.

之所以會出現這樣的問題，是因為 Morrisons 在價格上與其他超市競爭。

And now it has to pay hundreds of millions of pounds more each year in interest payments.

現在，它每年要多支付數億英鎊的利息。

They were just about making enough money to pay their debt, which meant that when Aldi and Lidl came in during a cost of living crisis and cut prices, Morrisons simply couldn't keep up with them.

他們賺的錢只夠償還債務，這意味著當阿爾迪（Aldi）和利德爾（Lidl）在生活成本危機期間降價時，莫里森根本無法跟上它們的步伐。

That's helped Aldi overtake Morrisons as the UK's fourth biggest supermarket.

這幫助阿爾迪超越莫里森，成為英國第四大超市。

To deal with the suffocating debt load, Morrisons has sold assets, including a £2.5bn deal for its petrol stations in January.

為了應對令人窒息的債務負擔，Morrisons 出售了資產，包括在 1 月份以 25 億英鎊的價格出售了旗下的加油站。

It's hoping that will let it offer lower prices to shoppers.

該公司希望藉此向購物者提供更低的價格。

These problems are besetting a lot of the businesses that Private Equity has bought.

這些問題困擾著許多被私募股權基金收購的企業。

All of this really matters because Private Equity-backed companies employ 1.9 million people in the UK, and their suppliers employ another 1.3 million people.

所有這些都很重要，因為私募股權投資支持的公司在英國僱用了 190 萬人，而他們的供應商又僱用了 130 萬人。

So when these deals go wrong, it can have real-world impacts.

是以，一旦這些交易出現問題，就會對現實世界產生影響。

So it can mean higher costs of goods for consumers, and we can also see jobs lost.

是以，這可能意味著消費者的商品成本上升，我們也可能看到工作崗位流失。

This is something that a number of politicians are already quite concerned about.

一些政治家已經對此相當關注。

How could you ensure the increased cost of borrowing won't be passed on to consumers?

如何確保增加的借貸成本不會轉嫁給消費者？

We're not about sweating assets at all.

我們根本不擔心資產問題。

Our customer experience, CSI, is improving as we speak today, and we are absolutely focused in delivering value for our customers.

今天，我們的客戶體驗 CSI 正在不斷改善，我們絕對致力於為客戶創造價值。

We've seen the owners of Asda, which are the billionaire Issa brothers, and TDR being hauled in front of a parliamentary committee recently, where they were questioned about so-called price gouging.

我們看到，阿斯達的所有者--億萬富翁伊薩兄弟和 TDR 最近被帶到議會委員會面前，就所謂的價格欺詐問題接受質詢。

The Bank of England has been worried about increased Private Equity ownership of British companies.

英格蘭銀行一直擔心英國公司的私募股權所有權會增加。

They're worried about increased debt levels, and they're worried about the But with a general election on the horizon, the solution may not be as simple as imposing higher taxes on private equity deals.

他們擔心債務水準上升，擔心大選在即，但解決辦法可能不是對私募股權交易徵收更高的稅那麼簡單。

It's difficult for politicians to really crack down on private equity companies, because after Brexit, Britain has been searching for external investment, and options are thinning on the ground a little bit.

政客們很難真正打擊私募股權公司，因為在英國脫歐後，英國一直在尋找外部投資，可供選擇的項目越來越少。

Proponents of private equity firms say that the money that they bring into the UK economy is super important, because there's just not that much foreign investment coming into the country right now.

私募股權公司的支持者說，私募股權公司為英國經濟帶來的資金超級重要，因為目前進入英國的外國投資並不多。

And I think that's the line that the Labour Party, if they do come into power, is going to have to tread very carefully.

我認為，如果工黨真的上臺執政，他們必須非常謹慎地對待這條路線。