Spare a thought for Little Sheep. Executives from the Hong Kong-listed hotpot chain discovered on Wednesday that they will have to wait another 60 days for a verdict from China’s Ministry of Commerce on the proposed buy-out by Yum! Brands of Kentucky. Many investors are not hanging around until Christmas Eve: the shares tumbled to an 18 per cent discount to the HK$6.50-a-share offer made six months ago. For the world’s second-largest economy, this is not nearly good enough.

　　关注一下小肥羊(Little Sheep)吧！这家香港上市火锅连锁集团的高管们周三获知，自己必须再等上60天，才能等来中国商务部对百胜餐饮集团(Yum! Brands)——也是肯德基(Kentucky)的母公司——收购小肥羊计划的审批结果。许多投资者等不到圣诞前夜了：小肥羊股价暴跌，比6个月前百胜给出的每股6.50港元的出价低了18%。对于中国这个全球第二大经济体来说，这种审批速度真是够呛。

　　It is not that China’s antitrust regime is particularly tough. In the three years since the passage of the first Anti-Monopoly Law (AML), the ministry’s antitrust bureau has reviewed about 300 cases, blocked one (Coca-Cola/Huiyuan Juice) and imposed conditions on seven more – about in line with international norms. But advisers complain that the process is exceptionally hard to read. It can take weeks, if not months, for the ministry to accept submission of a filing, thus beginning Phase I. Apparently routine cases often proceed to the deeper scrutiny of Phase II. All the while, soundings from an unknowable assortment of state agencies are taken under Article 27 of the AML, which allows for consideration of the deal’s effects on “national economic development.”

　　并不是说中国的反垄断法特别苛刻。中国首部反垄断法出台3年来，中国商务部反垄断局总共审查了大约300起案件，阻止了一起，即可口可乐(Coca-Cola)收购汇源果汁(Huiyuan Juice)一案，附带条件批准了7起——比例与国际惯例大致吻合。但企业顾问们抱怨称，审查流程特别难以让人看懂。商务部受理一起申报可能需要数周、甚至数月的时间。受理之后就进入了初步审查阶段。看上去较为普通的收购案一般都能进入第二阶段的审查。在整个过程中，各种名目不详的国家机构都可以依据反垄断法第27条进行调查，这一条款规定，审查中须考量收购案对“国民经济发展”的影响。

　　The backdrop to this case – Yum’s very fast growth in China, the iconic nature of the Little Sheep brand – is by the by. What matters more is that the outcome of filings seems to be determined as much by celebrity support as by the rule of law. Diageo discovered as much in June, when, after 15 months of wrangling, it was granted approval to buy 4 per cent of a Sichuan spirits company just as Premier Wen Jiabao met his British counterpart, David Cameron. As year-end approaches, Yum chairman David Novak may want to call in a few favours.

　　本收购案的背景——百胜在中国市场上的迅速发展，以及小肥羊标志性的品牌形象——并不是关键。更重要的是：对审查结果起决定性作用的，除了法律因素以外，名人支持似乎比什么都管用。帝亚吉欧(Diageo)今年6月就发现了这一点。经过15个月的争执后，该公司收购四川一家白酒公司4%股权的交易终于获批，当时适逢中国总理温家宝与英国首相戴维·卡梅伦(David Cameron)会晤。年关临近，百胜董事长大卫·诺瓦克(David Novak)大概要四处托人了。