股票代码 - 他的故事方面：TCI的克里斯霍恩在ABN AMRO战斗中 - 作为活动的对冲基金

Christopher Hohn fears no one. In the four years since he founded his London-based investment firm, the Children's Investment Fund Management U.K., Hohn, 40, has earned a reputation as one of Europe's most influential, tenacious and wildly successful shareholder activists. After erupting into public consciousness in 2005, when TCI opposed Deutsche Börse's offer for the London Stock Exchange -- inspiring a shareholder insurrection that killed the bid and ousted the German exchange's chief executive, Werner Seifert -- Hohn is at it again. In late February, TCI issued a direct challenge to ABN Amro, demanding that the Dutch bank either solicit takeover offers or seek to sell or spin off some of its assets.

在给监事会主席Arthur Martinez和董事会主席和首席执行官Rijkman Groenink，TCI概述了ABN AMRO的管理层未能提高银行股价随着时间的推移。自2000年以来，当GreneNink被任命为主席，直到1月底，ABN AMRO的股价没有萌芽，而Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Banks指数已获得44.3％。TCI还挑战了银行的管理，以追求未能产生任何可观福利的收购战略。

By virtue of its stake in the bank, TCI has succeeded in putting five resolutions on the agenda for the annual shareholders' meeting on April 26. These would require that management investigate a sale, spin-off or merger of some or all of its businesses. Hohn says his firm has been building its position in ABN Amro since early this year and now owns more than 2 percent of the bank.

Groenink通过与Barclays，U.K.的第三大银行有关可能的合并来回应。Hohn抗议谈判的独家性质是为了保护阿姆斯特丹·阿布·阿布罗管理和否认价值最大化的机会。他希望看到其他潜在的竞标者 - 分析师推测苏格兰皇家银行和Banco Santander中央海巴诺可能会考虑联合投标 - 允许更多地获得银行数据，以执行尽职调查，并提高潜在的优惠。ABN AMRO现在在竞技协议到期之前，在仲裁前，越来越努力解决条款。

In an exclusive interview with Institutional Investor Senior Editor Loch Adamson late last month, Hohn discussed his decision to lead a shareholder revolt against ABN Amro's management, as well as the broader challenges of being an activist investor.

Institutional Investor: When you began building TCI's stake in ABN Amro, was it your intent to engineer an event that would transform the bank?

Hohn: Yes. When we looked at the cost-income ratios of the different banks it owns -- like Banco Real in Brazil, LaSalle Bank in the U.S. and Banca Antonveneta in Italy -- and saw that ABN Amro's own cost-income ratio is materially worse than that of its peers, we concluded that the earnings power of the bank ought to be dramatically higher. Our analysis of the company showed that its underlying earnings per share have been broadly flat for about six years, and the bank has substantially underperformed its global and European peer group, including world banks. ABN Amro actually has many good businesses, so this was a rather unusual situation.

Do you have an ideal vision of what ABN Amro should look like?

We'd like to see better management and the potential merger or breakup of the bank's assets. ABN Amro is too geographically disparate, which has made it hard to manage, and these businesses have been run rather autonomously. ABN Amro's share price has been flat in a giant bull market, so clearly, the current strategy is not working, and it shows no signs of working. I do think that the company needs to be part of something larger -- in whole or in part -- to extract benefits of scale in-country and globally. Beyond that, there are many possible permutations.

Do you have a preference for the bank's selling off assets and breaking itself up or entertaining a merger?

他们不想打破自己。他们的论点是，分手有违规风险。然而，企业自主行动，我们认为分手是一个真实的，可行的选择。但是，如果整个销售或合并创造了相同或相似的价值，我们更愿意销售或合并整体。我们对此不是情感;我们只是在寻找股东的价值最大化。

TCI has threatened legal action if ABN Amro fails to consider rival offers. Do you object to the merger with Barclays, or merely the exclusive nature of the talks?

我们支持来自巴克莱的提案，但尚未发布任何条款。他们还没有披露排他性的术语。我们的假设是它可能是一个非光学协议而不是独家。原则上要尝试并遵守这一裁决，优先考虑一方，但如果其他缔约方敲门，并且你只被非olicat绑定，你有信托义务给其他政党等等尽职调查并允许他们发出要约。

The chief executive, Rijkman Groenink, has been with ABN Amro for his entire career. Are you concerned that he will fight to preserve the bank's integrity as a business?

分手可以创造更多的价值，但不能为他提供工作，因此存在兴趣冲突问题，是的。我们询问的要点是这是一个开放，透明的过程。而且不应该只有一方获得信息，并被管理友好。友好对谁？友好的管理或友好到股东？

Do you see it as your responsibility as a shareholder to catalyze change at ABN Amro?

我们可能是一个催化剂，但如果主流股东和荷兰股东不喜欢我们提出的或者他们喜欢现状，我们就无法在年度股东大会上赢得投票。所有股东都有能力不同意我们，但事实上，在我们发表信和我们的动议后，大股东呼吁谢谢我们。不是对冲基金 - 主流股东呼吁我们。

So much political noise has been made in Europe about the evils of shareholder activism by hedge funds. Do you feel the level of resistance rising?

不，恰恰相反。行动主义不必以这种高调的方式进行 - 它可以是私人影响的公司。我认为公司越来越多，试图为股东奔跑;它们朝着正确的方向移动。

After the maelstrom of Deutsche Börse, do you worry more about political blowback?

I think that the European Union has welcomed activism. [Internal market commissioner] Charlie McCreevy has just proposed a new law that would prevent central banks and other regulators from blocking hostile takeovers in financial services for purely political reasons.

但是，一般来说股东激活主义的政治辩论。我们认为这就是股东应该充当他们的业主，因为董事会并不总是与他们的股东保持一致。虽然活动主义可能是破坏性的，但这并不意味着它对经济体是一件坏事。