Nestlé SA is in talks to buy Chinese candy maker Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd., according to a person familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the biggest foreign takeovers of a Chinese company.

　　据一位知情人士透露，雀巢公司(Nestle SA)正在就收购中国糖果生产商徐福记国际集团(Hsu Fu Chi International Ltd.)进行谈判。这有可能成为规模最大的外资收购中国公司交易之一。

　　The talks between Nestlé and Hsu Fu are at a delicate stage and still have a number of hurdles to cross, the person said. Any deal for Hsu Fu, which has a market value of $2.6 billion, is weeks away, the person added.

　　据这位知情人士透露，雀巢与徐福记的谈判正处于一个微妙阶段，仍需要跨越很多障碍；徐福记市值26亿美元，任何针对该公司的并购交易都要数周之后才会达成。

　　Many big western companies like Nestlé, the world's largest food company by sales, are scouring developing markets for deals amid sluggish growth at home. But such deals aren't easy to pull off.

　　雀巢等很多大型西方公司在国内增长疲弱之际，纷纷开始在发展中国家市场寻找并购机会。不过这样的交易并不容易实现。雀巢是全球销售额最大的食品公司。

　　In 2009, Chinese authorities rejected a $2.4 billion bid by Coca-Cola Co. to buy all of Chinese soft drinks maker Huiyuan Juice Group Co. It took U.K. liquor giant Diageo PLC 16 months to win Chinese regulatory approval for its bid to take control of a local Sichuan white-spirits maker.

　　2009年，中国当局驳回了可口可乐(Coca-Cola Co.)斥资24亿美元全盘收购中国软饮料生产商汇源果汁(Huiyuan Juice Group Co.)的申请。而英国烈酒生产巨头帝亚吉欧公司(Diageo PLC)收购中国四川一家白酒生产商的交易则花了16个月的时间才获得了中国监管部门的批准。

　　Diageo's approval to buy Chinese baijiu brand Shui Jing Fang, announced this past week, could indicate that Chinese authorities are more open to such deals.

　　帝亚吉欧收购中国白酒品牌水井坊的申请获批一事于上周公布，该交易可能意味着中国当局对这类交易更加开放。

　　But the Hsu Fu deal is a complex one, not least because few takeovers on this scale have ever been pulled off in China. The Diageo deal involves a company valued at less than $1 billion.

　　不过，收购徐福记则是一桩复杂的交易，主要是因为在中国如此规模的并购交易几乎从未实现过。毕竟，帝亚吉欧收购的对象是一家市值不足10亿美元的公司。

　　A Nestlé spokesman declined to comment. Hsu Fu officials couldn't be reached after hours at the company's Dongguan headquarters.

　　雀巢发言人拒绝置评。记者试图联系东莞徐福记总部的管理人士，但联系了几个小时都未果。

　　Hsu Fu is 19-year-old company founded by the Hsu brothers who still own a significant stake. The company, which makes chocolate, other candy and the Chinese pastry sachima, had a profit of 602 million yuan ($93 million) on revenue of 4.3 billion yuan in the 12 months ended June 30, 2010. The company's shares are traded in Singapore.

　　徐福记由徐氏兄弟创立于19年前，他们现在仍持有该公司相当数量的股权。徐福记生产巧克力等糖果以及中式点心沙琪玛。在截至2010年6月30日的12个月中，徐福记实现利润人民币6.02亿元（合9,300万美元），实现收入人民币43亿元。该公司股票在新加坡上市。

　　The talks between Nestlé and Hsu Fu were earlier reported by Bloomberg News.

　　彭博新闻(Bloomberg News)此前曾报导过雀巢和徐福记之间的谈判。

　　Nestlé, maker of brands such as Nescafe, Häagen-Dazs and Purina, has been looking to increase its sales in the emerging markets from about a third now to nearly half within a decade. It has also been reformulating some traditional products and putting them in lower cost packaging so that it can sell them at lower price points that poorer shoppers can afford. Sales in Nestlé's Asian and African division rose nearly 12% in the first three months of this year, the fastest growth of any region.

　　雀巢旗下的品牌包括雀巢咖啡(Nescafe)、哈根达斯(Haagen-Dazs)和普瑞纳(Purina)。该公司一直计划在10年内将新兴市场销售额的占比从目前的三分之一提高到近一半。该公司也在调整一些传统产品的生产，对这类产品使用成本更低的包装，以便能够以较低的价格销售，让较拮据的消费者也买得起。今年前三个月，雀巢亚洲和非洲部门的销售额增长了近12%，是所有地区中增速最快的。

　　The deal would also boost Nestlé's confectionery business, which makes up about 12% of sales, but has been a laggard, particularly compared with rivals such as Cadbury, a division of Kraft Foods Inc. that have large candy businesses in countries such as India and Mexico. In recent years, some analysts wondered whether Nestlé might sell the business, which includes brands such as KitKat and Nestlé Crunch. Instead, it has pushed harder on innovation and raised sales growth. This past week, it launched KitKat in Brazil for the first time.

　　这桩交易还将提振雀巢的糖果业务。糖果业务占了雀巢总销售额的约12%，不过一直处于落后状态，特别是与卡夫食品(Kraft Foods Inc.)旗下的吉百利(Cadbury)等竞争对手相比。这些公司在印度和墨西哥等国拥有规模庞大的糖果业务。近年来，一些分析人士猜测雀巢可能会出售糖果业务。雀巢糖果业务包括奇巧(KitKat)和Nestle Crunch脆米果巧克力。相反，雀巢更大力度地推进创新，提高了销售增速。上周，雀巢首次在巴西推出了奇巧。