A depressed stock, a sizable cash pile, not to mention a potentially amenable founder/chief executive with his own big equity stake, has rekindled talk about a leveraged buyout of Dell.


迷的股价，庞大的现金储备，更不用提其拥有大量股权的创始人兼首席执行长可能愿意进行私有化交易，这些因素都重新引发市场谈论对戴尔公司(Dell Inc., DELL)的杠杆收购。



In a reminder of why the company might want to go private, Gartner said Monday that global PC shipments declined 4.9% in the fourth quarter from the prior year. Dell is trying to transition more of its business to sales of other gear like storage, networking and software, but PCs and commodity servers still make up the majority of its revenue. The transition will be lumpy and perhaps best done outside the public's view.


Gartner公司周一说，去年第四季度全球个人电脑发货量同比下降4.9%，这也提醒了我们戴尔可能希望私有化的原因。戴尔正试图进行业务转型，希望提高存储设备、网络设备和软件等其它设备的销售额在业务收入中的占比。但个人电脑和商用服务器在戴尔的收入中仍然占据了很大比重。转型过程可能云谲波诡，或许最好能在公众视野之外完成。



But a couple of issues would complicate matters. One is that Dell says 'substantially all' of its $14.2 billion pile of cash and investments is held outside the U.S. That cash likely can't be brought home to help fund a buyout without incurring a steep repatriation tax penalty. A December analysis from Goldman Sachs put the internal rate of return on a Dell LBO at just 8%, unless buyout sponsors were somehow able to access that cash with no tax penalty. That boosted Goldman's IRR estimate to 31%.


但还有几个问题可能令这一过程更加复杂。问题之一是，戴尔说其总额为142亿美元的现金储备和投资"几乎全部"都是在美国境外持有。如将这些现金汇回本国为杠杆收购提供资金，那么戴尔很可能面临极高的惩罚性税收。去年12月高盛(Goldman Sachs)所做的分析表明，戴尔进行杠杆收购带来的内部收益率仅有8%，除非参与交易的私募股权投资公司有办法在不受到税收惩罚的前提下动用上述现金。如果是那样的话，那么高盛估计的内部收益率将升至31%。



Another concern is the loss of flexibility to invest. An LBO would leave a private Dell focused squarely on paying down debt. Its ability to strategically acquire businesses would be limited unless private-equity investors were willing to pitch in more capital down the line. But that would also affect returns.


另一个问题在于此举可能令戴尔失去投资的灵活性。杠杆收购将令私有化后的戴尔不得不把重心放在偿还债务上。其进行战略性业务收购的能力将受到限制，除非私募股权投资者愿意在未来投入更多资金。但这又会影响投资回报率。



Even if tough to pull off, the possibility of an LBO at least puts a floor under the value of the shares.


即使成功做到这些非常困难，但存在杠杆收购的可能至少为戴尔股票价值设置了一条底线。



ROLFE WINKLER


ROLFE WINKLER