Diana Chen, one of China’s richest women, is not your typical iron industry baron¹.

陈宁宁今年36岁，是受过西方教育的“高干子弟”她已故的外祖父吕东曾于上世纪60年代和70年代担任原冶金工业部部长。

Ms Chen, 36, is a Western-educated “princeling”, as the children and grandchildren of China’s communist elite² are known. Her late grandfather, Lu Dong, was China’s metallurgy minister in the 1960s and 1970s.

今年夏天，陈宁宁对香港上市的中国东方集团(China Oriental Group)发起了敌意收购。此前，她与持有东方集团45%股权的主席韩敬远闹翻。东方集团控制着湖北省一座中等规模的钢铁厂。

This summer, Ms Chen launched a hostile takeover for Hong Kong-listed China Oriental Group, which controls a mid-sized steel mill in Hebei province. Her bid came after a falling out with Han Jingyuan, Oriental’s chairman, who controls 45 per cent of the company.

在由陈宁宁外祖父等保守派中央计划官员打造出的钢铁产业中，这种举动颇不寻常。但这位中国“钢铁公主”的职业路径就颇不寻常。 Such manoeuvres are unusual in an industry forged by conservative central planners such as Ms Chen’s grandfather. But then so is the career path of China’s “iron princess”.

上世纪90年代早期，陈宁宁到纽约理工学院(New York Institute of Technology)攻读MBA学位，毕业后回香港与母亲一同创办了嘉鑫钢铁集团有限公司(Pioneer Iron & Steel Group)。她的母亲在大学期间曾学习冶金专业，但此前从未涉足该行业。在此后短短10年时间，嘉鑫钢铁成为中国最大的铁矿石民营进口商。去年，《福布斯》杂志(Forbes)估计，陈宁宁个人财富高达2.16亿美元。

In the early 1990s, Ms Chen studied for an MBA degree at the New York Institute of Technology before returning to Hong Kong to start Pioneer Iron & Steel Group with her mother, who had studied metallurgy in university but was not previously³ involved in the industry. In little more than a decade since, Pioneer has become one of the largest private importers of iron ore into China. Last year Forbes magazine estimated Ms Chen’s wealth at $216m.

“这其实就是通过非传统手段进入一个传统行业，”陈宁宁表示，“从前，所有人都从事简单的贸易。我们利用无形资产和技术帮助（武汉钢铁集团和鞍钢新轧等国有企业）获得贷款，并对其进行改造，准备进行首次公开发行(IPO)。”

“It was a matter of using non-traditional means to approach a traditional industry,” Ms Chen says. “Before, everyone just did simple trading. We used intangible assets and skills to help [state-owned companies such as Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, and Angang New Steel Company] get loans and to reform themselves to prepare for IPOs.”

陈宁宁表示，这些服务都是免费提供的，但它们有助于建立关系，并使她对这些公司有了深入了解。到世纪交替之际，钢铁行业开始在中国经济发展的推动下复苏，当时，嘉鑫处在将中国钢铁制造商与外国铁矿企业结合的良好位置。她表示：“到2003年，中国大约15%至20%的铁矿石由我们进口。”

Those services were provided free of charge, says Ms Chen, but they helped build relationships and gave her an in-depth knowledge of the companies. By the turn of the century, when the steel industry revived on the back of China’s economic growth, Pioneer was well-positioned to bring together China’s steel makers⁴ and foreign iron miners. “By 2003, we were importing about 15-20 per cent of China’s iron ore,” she says.

陈宁宁承认，作为中国共产党高层官员的后代，身份对她有所帮助，“但只是人们知道你来自一个有名望的家庭。我的外祖父从没贪污过，我母亲经常教导我不要令我外祖父的名声蒙羞……我有关系，但我从没用过。”

Ms Chen admits that being the descendant of a top communist official has helped, “but only in the sense that people knew you came from a respectable family. My grandfather was never corrupt⁵, and my mother always told me not to shame my grandfather’s name?.?.?.?I had the guanxi [connections], but I never used them.”

陈宁宁表示，她向中国东方集团股东提出的竞价，代表着复兴这家公司的“最后努力”。她声称，该集团是为数不多的完全不受国家控制的上市钢铁公司之一，但它没能充分利用其作为一家香港上市公司，可以进入现代金融市场的渠道。

Ms Chen says her offer to China Oriental’s shareholders⁷ represents a “final effort” to revitalise the company. She claims the group, one of China’s few publicly listed steel companies that is completely free of state ownership, failed to make full use of its access to modern financial markets as a Hong Kong-listed company.

极少有人尝试在香港进行敌意收购，在香港许多规模较小的上市公司，都是最大的股东持有控股权。但陈宁宁表示，如果她获得成功，就计划进行大举筹资，并收购规模较小的竞争对手。

Hostile takeover attempts are extremely rare in Hong Kong, where in many smaller listed companies the largest shareholder⁶ owns a controlling stake. But if she succeeds, Ms Chen says she plans to aggressively raise funds and acquire smaller rivals.

“如果失败，我将退出该公司。我还有其它计划，比如收购另一家工厂，但我还没傻到在没做最后努力之前就放弃的地步。”

“If I fail, I will exit the company. I have other plans such as buying another mill, but I am not so silly as to give up before this one last try.”

中国东方集团董事会（除陈宁宁以外）已表示，她对该公司的竞购是主动进行的，而且“没有得到董事会的支持”。上周，董事会建议股东拒绝此次收购。目前未能联系到韩敬远予以置评。 China Oriental’s board, excluding Ms Chen, has said her bid for the company was unsolicited and “did not have the support of the board”. Last week, it advised shareholders to reject the offer. Mr Han could not be reached for comment.

陈宁宁的出价相当于每股3港元，远低于该股上周五3.59港元的收盘价。在今年2月首次宣布此次收购交易时，中国东方集团的股价为2.24港元，陈宁宁声称，最近的涨幅“与（她的）报价有关，不会持续下去”。

Ms Chen’s offer price amounts to HK$3 per share, well below Friday’s closing price of HK$3.59. China Oriental shares traded at HK$2.24 when the takeover was first announced in February, and Ms Chen claims the recent gains were “related to [her] offer and not sustainable”.

陈宁宁的竞购被称作是私营行业对中国政府的首次回应之一，中国政府正努力将全国260家钢铁公司整合成规模更大、更具竞争力的集团。国有控股的武汉钢铁(Wuhan Iron & Steel)和鞍钢(Angang)等公司已开始着手进行并购交易。 Ms Chen’s bid has been billed as one of the first private-sector responses to Beijing’s efforts to consolidate⁸ the nation’s 260 iron and steel companies into larger, more competitive groups. State-controlled Wuhan Iron & Steel and Angang, among others, have already embarked⁹ on mergers¹⁰ and acquisition deals.

陈宁宁表示：“5年内，中国钢铁业将进行整合，并出现超大型钢铁公司。”

“In five years’ time there will be consolidation¹¹ and mega steel companies in China.” Ms Chen says.

“如果你不收购其它公司，你就会被别人收购。”

“If you don’t acquire others, you will be acquired.”