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漢堡王，一個口味并不輸給麥當(dāng)勞，但競爭中卻屢屢居于下風(fēng)的快餐品牌，最終被私人股本收購…
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Whopper to go
至尊漢堡，打包帶走
Will Burger King be gobbled up by private equity?
漢堡王是否會被私人股本吞并？
【1】SHARES in Burger King (BK) soared on September 1st on reports that the fast-food company was talking to severalprivate-equity?firms interested in buying it. How much beef was behind these stories was unclear. But?lately?the company famous for the?slogan"Have It Your Way" has certainly not been having it its own way. There may be arguments about whether BK or McDonald‘s serves the best fries, but there is no doubt which is more popular with?stockmarket?investors: the maker of the Big Mac has?supersized?its lead in the past two years.
private-equity：私募股權(quán)基金；私募股權(quán)
lately：最近，近來，不久以前
slogan：標(biāo)語，口號
stockmarket：證券市場，證券交易所，證券行情
supersize：（使）變大，更大；（使）膨脹；超大的
有報道披露，快餐企業(yè)漢堡王（BK）正在與數(shù)個有收購意向的私人股本接洽，9月1日，漢堡王的股值隨之飆升。這些報道究竟有多少真材實(shí)料不得而知。漢堡王的著名口號是“我選我味”，但如今顯然它身不由己，心中五味雜陳。漢堡王和麥當(dāng)勞哪家薯?xiàng)l最好吃，食客們一直爭論不休，但股票投資人更喜歡哪家股票，卻一目了然：過去兩年里，巨無霸麥當(dāng)勞一直在擴(kuò)大自己的優(yōu)勢。
［2］Recession?has favoured McDonald’s over BK, whose share price has fallen by half since the economy was?flame-grilled?in the summer of 2008. Shares in McDonald’s have risen, reaching an all-time high in August. Same-store sales at BK have fallen for five?successive?quarters.
Recession：經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退；不景氣；后退；撤退；撤回；凹陷
The recession caused sales to drop off.
經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣使銷量下降。
flame-grilled：火焰燒烤
successive：連續(xù)的；接連的；相繼的
He won three successive matches.
他連勝三場比賽。
金融危機(jī)比起漢堡王也更青睞麥當(dāng)勞，自2008年經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷以來，漢堡王股票價格跌至原來的一半。而麥當(dāng)勞的股票不跌反漲，在8月又創(chuàng)下了歷史新高。漢堡王的同店銷售額連續(xù)五個季度下跌。
［3］Why has McDonald’s been eating BK’s lunch? Among other things, BK has always had a higher proportion of sales to young men, who have been hit especially hard by the recession. McDonald’s, by contrast, has for several years?wooed?women and older people with relatively healthy salads and?drinkable?coffee. BK has struggled to?follow suit. At the same time, it has had to?contend with?angry?shareholders, as the rising cost of beef and other ingredients has?clobbered?its profits. BK may also have?cannibalised?its existing sales by offering value meals that were a bit too?irresistible.
woo：求愛，求婚；爭取…的支持
drinkable：可飲用的，好喝的
follow suit：跟風(fēng)，跟著做，照著做；如法炮制
contend with：與（某人）競爭；與（某事物）抗?fàn)帲嘤趹?yīng)付；爭執(zhí)
shareholder：股東，股票持有者
clobber：連續(xù)打擊，徹底打垮；懲罰，使受到（嚴(yán)重經(jīng)濟(jì)損失）
cannibalise：吃同類的肉；拆用…的配件；調(diào)撥…的人員;吃人肉
irresistible：不可抗拒；無法抗拒的；不可阻擋；誘惑人的，具有非常的魅力的
為何麥當(dāng)勞在與漢堡王的競爭中占得先機(jī)？別的不談，漢堡王的顧客更多的是年輕人，而年輕人受金融危機(jī)打擊尤其嚴(yán)重。相對地，麥當(dāng)勞近年來一直以相對健康的沙拉和可口的咖啡，吸引女性和中老年人。漢堡王一直難以模仿。與此同時，隨著牛肉等原材料的成本上漲，利潤一跌再跌，漢堡王又不得不去對付那些憤怒的股東。 漢堡王的套餐太過誘人，可能也影響了其他產(chǎn)品的銷量。
［4］BK is used to changes in ownership. It went from being part of Pillsbury, a food company, to Grand Metropolitan, a British?conglomerate, then to Diageo, a drinks giant. In 2002 it was sold to a group of?private-equity?investors: TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs. They did a fair job, improving sales with better marketing. They also helped turn around the most troubled of the?franchisees?who operate most BK restaurants. In 2006 BK?floated?its shares again. Its bosses may hope that going private once more will protect them from short-term stockmarket pressures while they?ponder?how to beat McDonald’s.
conglomerate：礫巖；聯(lián)合大企業(yè)；合成物；組合物；成團(tuán)的;礫巖性的
private-equity：私募股權(quán)基金；私募股權(quán)
franchisee：特許經(jīng)營人
float：浮動，漂流，漂移
ponder：思考，衡量；仔細(xì)考慮，琢磨
We pondered over the present state of affairs.
我們考慮了當(dāng)前的情況。
漢堡王此前多次易主，已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常了。它曾是皮爾斯百利食品公司的一部分，后轉(zhuǎn)入英國大都會集團(tuán)，繼而轉(zhuǎn)投飲品巨頭帝亞吉?dú)W。2002年又被轉(zhuǎn)手賣給一批私人股本投資者：德克薩斯太平洋集團(tuán)（TPG），貝恩資本和高盛。他們經(jīng)營良好，利用優(yōu)秀市場策略增加了銷售。大部分漢堡王餐廳的運(yùn)營商當(dāng)時經(jīng)營不善，他們還助其扭虧為盈。2006年漢堡王再度上市。其老板可能希望再度私有化以規(guī)避短期股市壓力，為其爭取時間定策擊敗麥當(dāng)勞。
［5］If BK does go private, it may be part of a trend in the private-equity industry—now that some of the bigger firms have?rediscovered?their?appetite?for deals—of?gobbling up?the companies they had taken public during the?bubble years?but which are now trading cheaply. TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs still own a?sizeable?stake in BK, despite listing it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. However, it seems that other private-equity firms are interested in buying it. If that happens, no doubt BK servers will appreciate the?irony: the act of passing a company from one private-equity firm to another is known in the business as “flipping”.
rediscover：再次（重新）發(fā)現(xiàn)
appetite：胃口，欲望（指人或動物對食物或性的欲望，特指食欲），用于比喻可指“斗志”等。
I have no appetite for a big fight.
我無意大吵大鬧。
gobble up：吞并；擊垮；消耗；耗費(fèi)
The firm's expenses gobbled up 44% of revenues.
該公司的支出占其收入的44%。
bubble years：泡沫時代
sizeable：相當(dāng)大的，頗大的
irony：反語；冷嘲；有諷刺意味的情形；令人啼笑皆非之處
The irony was that Shawn had not seen her.
具有諷刺意味的是，肖恩并沒有見過她。
私人股本行業(yè)——如今一些大公司重新對收購有了興趣——吞并那些他們在經(jīng)濟(jì)泡沫時代賣掉，現(xiàn)在十分廉價的公司，儼然已成一股大潮，如果漢堡王真的私有化，就將融入這股大潮之中。德克薩斯太平洋集團(tuán)（TPG），貝恩資本和高盛雖然2006年在紐約證券交易所已經(jīng)兜售了漢堡王，但他們?nèi)晕沼锌捎^的股份。然而，其他私人股本公司似乎也有意收購。要是真被他們收購，無疑漢堡王的服務(wù)生都能領(lǐng)會其中的諷刺：在私人股本公司中被倒賣，在做漢堡這行叫“翻面”。
2010年漢堡王被3G資本收購，并私有化。現(xiàn)在來看這次收購對漢堡王是利大于弊的，它成功轉(zhuǎn)型，并開始將市場向全球拓廣。
現(xiàn)在在國內(nèi)，也有越來越多的漢堡王快餐店，和麥當(dāng)勞相比，漢堡王的漢堡價高但量大，喜愛美食的你更喜歡哪一家的呢？
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