UBS provided a secret loan of about $5.5bn to enable a Thai company to purchase HSBC’s stake in a Chinese insurer earlier this year, according to people familiar with the deal. 知情人士透露，瑞银(UBS)悄悄提供一笔大约55亿美元的贷款，使一家泰国公司得以在今年早些时候买下汇丰(HSBC)在一家中资保险公司所持的股份。

Thailand’s agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Group bought HSBC’s 15.6 per cent stake in Ping An, China’s biggest private insurer, for a total of $9.4bn, closing the deal in February. 泰国农业综合企业巨擘正大集团（Charoen Pokphand Group，中国以外称“卜蜂集团”）斥资94亿美元，收购汇丰在中国最大民营保险公司平安保险(Ping An)所持的15.6%股份，这笔交易在今年2月完成。

There was no disclosure at the time of UBS’s role in financing the transaction. 当时各方都没有披露瑞银为这笔交易融资的角色。

The acquisition looked as though it could be on the brink of collapse when China Development Bank, a major Chinese lender, withdrew financing for CP Group in January before it made the final payment tranche of the purchase. 这笔收购交易一度看似濒临崩溃，原因是中国大型银行——国家开发银行(CDB)在1月正大集团即将支付最后一笔收购款之前，撤回其对正大集团的资金支持。

But UBS, the sole adviser to CP Group on the deal, stepped in behind the scenes to provide a five-year loan of roughly $5.5bn to plug the gap, according to people with knowledge of the arrangement. CP Group had said it had the “necessary resources” to complete the deal and made no mention of external financing. 但是，据了解相关安排的人士表示，作为正大集团在这笔交易中的唯一顾问，瑞银在幕后介入，提供了一笔大约55亿美元的5年期贷款，以填补资金缺口。正大集团当时表示，其拥有完成交易的“必要资源”，而没有提到外部融资。

This UBS loan, which was first reported by Reuters, was critical to ensuring that the transaction received approval from the Chinese insurance regulator. 路透社(Reuters)最先曝光的这笔瑞银贷款，对于确保交易得到中国保险业监管机构的批准十分关键。

“All parties were pleased with the transaction,” said one of the people familiar with the deal. “各方都对这笔交易感到满意，”熟悉交易的人士之一表示。

UBS declined to comment. CP Group was not immediately available for comment. 瑞银不愿置评。记者一时联系不上正大集团请其置评。

CDB pulled its financing for the deal after Chinese media reported that CP Group was in part serving as a front for Chinese investors who were the real buyers of the Ping An stake. CP Group denied the reports, saying that it was not acting on behalf of any third party. 国开行撤回其对这笔交易的融资之前，中国媒体报道称，正大集团在一定程度上充当了一些中国投资者的门面，那些投资者才是平安保险股份的真正买家。正大集团否认了这些报道，称其不代表任何第三方行动。

UBS stands to make a sizeable profit from its role in keeping the deal alive. It is expected to earn about $100m from the loan over the next five years. 瑞银将因为挽救这笔交易而斩获可观利润。预期该行将在今后5年里从这笔贷款赚得大约1亿美元。

Chinese-Thai tycoon Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and chief executive of the unlisted CP Group, is a private banking client of UBS and has worked with the Swiss bank on previous acquisitions. 华裔泰国富豪、未上市的正大集团董事长兼首席执行官谢国民(Dhanin Chearavanont)是瑞银的私人银行客户，在以往的交易中曾与瑞银合作。

His assets formed the collateral for the Ping An loan. To spread the risk, UBS syndicated part of the loan to other private banking clients. 他的资产构成平安股份收购贷款的抵押品。为分散风险，瑞银让其他一些私人银行客户组成银团，由其承担一部分贷款。

CP Group had been sitting on a large potential profit when the deal was completed, with Ping An shares trading 20 per cent higher than the HK$59-a-share deal price. But a slump over the past two months has turned that to a small loss on paper, with Ping An shares now closer to HK$58. 这笔交易完成时，正大集团坐拥大笔潜在利润，因为平安保险的股价比每股59港元的交易价格高出20%。但该公司股价在过去两个月里大幅下跌，目前股价跌至58港元，使正大集团蒙受小幅账面亏损。

HSBC had spent $1.6bn since 2002 to build up its holding in Ping An. The stake sale, part of HSBC’s strategy to focus on its banking business, was expected to add half a percentage point to its core capital ratio. 汇丰自2002年起投入16亿美元逐步积累平安股份。出售这笔股份是汇丰聚焦于银行业务的战略的一部分，预期此举将使该行的核心资本充足率提高半个百分点。