荣智健，中国的第一红色大亨
从坐落在中信大厦玻璃幕墙背后的办公室里，公司主席荣智健能够欣赏到香港这座现代化城市的两种截然不同的风景。
一边是岸旁宏伟的海港，笔直地排列着众多船只。这些船只提醒着人们这个城市的人们对于商业的饥渴。而在另一边，是阴沉的中国军队总部，它毫无生气的外观会让人误以为这些人正在警戒着这个资本家的乐园。
商业上的冒险和对政治领导意愿的满足在他身上刻下了不同的印记。这构成了这位64岁亿万富翁长期职业生涯的显著标志。
这位出生在上海一个权贵家庭里的世家子弟在文革期间经历了一段困难的时期，是改革派领袖邓小平又让他重现生机。荣先生随后成为了来自共产主义中国的首富，并且在海外取得了成功。
在他的父亲前中国国家副主席荣毅仁这位绝佳政治关系的帮助下，荣先生通过无情的商业运作帮助国有企业中信富泰集团打入了香港富豪俱乐部。而那些香港老牌富豪们在英国统治时期就获得了空前的财富。
通过收购类似国泰航空这样的标志性企业、地区旗舰型企业和能源工业之类的战略性企业的大量股份，荣先生展现出的形象告诉世人：以北京为后盾的企业是一股不容忽视的力量。他的“第一红色大亨”的地位使他能够打破香港本地富豪对于经济的统治，并且使他成为了“一国两制”政策的活生生的例子。
1994年他被选为当地最有影响的机构——赛马会的主席之一，而这个席位传统上是为怡和集团所占据的。这个变化也被看作是即将回归的香港提前举行的一个仪式。
尽管近几年荣先生在香港减少了露面，但他的财富仍然在稳定地增长，估计有20亿美元之巨。有一些观察家认为，随着中国更多的国有企业在海外上市，中信作为大陆的并购工具变得不那么重要了。但另外的观察家提出，中信的实业资产已经使它成为了一个实体企业，荣先生必须集中精力处理其庞大项目的运作。
荣先生最近对英美集团的偷袭可能是北京控制更多自然资源计划的一部分，也可能是他为了使其庞大的个人财富多元化的个人投资行为。无论如何，这一举动再次印证了1999年金融时报对他的描述：“叫我赌徒也好，叫我战士也好，我承认我对风险有一种渴望。”
Larry Yung: China's first 'red tycoon'
By Francesco Guerrera in New York
Published: November 10 2006 20:25 Last updated: November 10 2006 20:25
From his office in the glass-covered Citic Tower, the company's chairman Larry Yung can enjoy two somewhat contradictory views of modern Hong Kong. On one side is the territory's splendid harbour, criss-crossed by ships that act as constant reminders of its citizens' hunger for commerce. On the opposite side, the drab headquarters of the Chinese army, whose lifeless
exterior belies the activities of the men charged with policing the capitalist enclave.
This tension between entrepreneurial endeavour and attention to the wishes of his political masters has marked the long-career of the 64-year-old billionaire.
The scion of a powerful Shanghai family that fell on hard times during the Cultural Revolution and was rehabilitated by the reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, Mr Yung became the first tycoon from communist China to make his mark abroad.
Helped by impeccable political connections – Rong Yiren, his father, was China's vice-resident – Mr Yung's relentless deal making helped the government-owned Citic Pacific to break into the cosy group of Hong Kong tycoons and conglomerates that had thrived under British rule.
By acquiring large stakes in iconic companies such as Cathay Pacific, the territory's de-facto flag carrier, and strategic industries such as power, Mr Yung showed influential figures that Beijing-backed companies were a force to be reckoned with. His status as the first "red tycoon" enabled him to penetrate the circle of grandees that dominated Hong Kong's conomy and turned him into a living example of Beijing's "one country, two systems" policy.
His 1994 election as one of the stewards of the Jockey Club – one of the territory’s most influential institutions – in a seat traditionally reserved for Jardine Matheson, was seen as a rite of passage for the soon-to-be former British colony.
In recent years, however, Mr Yung became a less visible presence in Hong Kong despite a steady rise in his fortune, estimated at $2bn. Some watchers argue that, as more Chinese state companies listed on overseas markets, Citic became less important as an acquisition vehicle for the mainland. Others note that Citic’s industrial portfolio transformed it into a utility and that Mr Yung had to concentrate on running its large operations.
Mr Yung's latest foray into Anglo-American may be part of Beijing's plans to control more natural resources or a personal investment to diversify his large wealth. Either way, it reinforces the description Mr Yung gave the Financial Times in 1999: "Call me a gambler or call me a fighter. I won't deny I have an appetite for risk."
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
