惠誉撤销嘉汉林业评级

    关于中国林业公司嘉汉林业（Sino-Forest）的消息进一步恶化。由于无法从公司获得足够的信息，惠誉（Fitch）上周四宣布将不再对嘉汉林业的证券进行评级。

    世界三大评级机构之一的惠誉要求嘉汉林业“及时定期更新其海外资金余额的信息”。该机构同时要求其公开公司管理层对于公司架构的管理模式，分析人士评论称其管理模式错综复杂。惠誉表示“鉴于当前的公司构架并不利于海外债务人直接了解公司在岸现金流情况，这些信息对于监测嘉汉林业海外债权人的态度非常关键。”

    嘉汉林业管理层在答复惠誉时称，在公司成立的独立特别委员会公布其调查结果之前，公司无法提供进一步的信息。

    嘉汉林业[SNOFF]近来屡遭重创，惠誉取消其评级的决定只是其中之一。其他还包括：空投卡森•布洛克创建的浑水调查公司（Muddy Waters Research）于6月初发表了一篇报道，将嘉汉林业列为“罕见的欺诈公司之一”。根据浑水调查的说法，嘉汉林业通过复杂的运营构架来夸大其资产的数额及价值。

    嘉汉林业的股票闻风暴跌。对冲基金专家兼该公司股东约翰•鲍尔森损失惨重。他对其投资者发表了道歉声明，并抛售了其所持全部股份。评级机构纷纷降低对该股的评级，公司的股价也因此一落千丈。分析师也停止了对该公司的关注，针对嘉汉林业的调查也拉开了帷幕。投资者和监管者也开始对其他上市的中国公司进行审查。

    争议爆发以来，嘉汉林业一直否认所有指控，但却没有提供任何证据以证明自己的清白。正如香港财务司司长唐英年接受媒体采访时所称，这并不是最好的做法。

    The news just got a little worse Chinese forestry company Sino-Forest. Fitch announced Thursday that it will no longer rate Sino-Forest bonds because it isn't getting sufficient information from the company.

    Fitch, one of world's three largest ratings agencies, asked Sino-Forest for "a more frequent and regular update of its offshore cash balances." The agency also wanted to know how management intends to handle the structure of the business, which analysts describe as quite convoluted. Fitch said that the information is "critical to monitoring the position of Sino-Forest offshore creditors, particularly given that under the current business structure offshore obligors are unable to directly access the company's onshore cash flows."

    Sino-Forest management, in turn, told Fitch that it can't provide anymore information until a committee formed to investigate the company publishes its findings.

    Fitch's decision to withdraw a rating altogether is the latest in a series of blows sustained by Sino-Forest [SNOFF] this summer. To recap: Muddy Waters Research, a firm founded by short seller Carson Block, released a report in early June that called Sino-Forest "one of the rare frauds that is committed by an established institution." According to Muddy Waters, the company used a complex business structure to exaggerate the value and amount of its assets.

    Sino-Forest shares plummeted on the report. Shareholder and hedge fund master John Paulson lost money on his investment in the company, apologized to his investors, and dumped the stock altogether. Ratings agencies issued downgrades, and the company's bond prices took a dive. Analysts stopped covering the company, investigations into Sino-Forest began, and investors and regulators began to scrutinize other publicly traded Chinese companies as well.

    Since the controversy began, Sino-Forest has denied the accusations, but refrained from providing information that could prove its innocence. As Hong Kong's finance minister John Tsang has told the press, that's just not good enough.