商务英语中级阅读资料(6)

　　Until a couple of years ago, property derivatives existed only in theory. But in recent months the sector has started to grow rapidly: in the UK, which barely had a market two years ago, there have been more than 300 deals worth in total close to ￡5bn, according to figures from Investment Property Databank, the research firm. A number of transactions have been completed in the US and continental Europe, and bankers expect this to grow.

　　The inaugural transaction in Asia, at less than HK$100m ($13m), is small by global standards. But it comes amid growing appetite among cash-rich investors for new ways to invest in some of the world's fastest growing property sectors - that can also be alternatives to property stocks or real estate investment trusts, for example.

　　"Property is one of the hottest games in town and the potential for growth of property derivatives in Hong Kong is huge," says Philip Ljubic, a director of property derivatives at ABN Amro, which completed on the 27th Feb's transaction with Sun Hung Kai Financial.

　　In the Hong Kong transaction, traded as a one-year "price return swap," ABN Amro - the buyer of the derivative - gains exposure to the city's housing market by receiving the annual change in the HKU-HRPI, an index measuring the price of Hong Kong Island residential property. This index is one of the subsets of a series developed by the University of Hong Kong partly for this specific transaction.

　　数年前，房地产衍生品还只是存在于理论上。但研究机构Investment Property Databank公布的数据显示，最近几个月，房地产衍生品市场已开始迅速发展：在两年前市场刚刚形成的英国，迄今已达成逾300笔此类交易，价值近50亿英镑。美国和欧洲大陆也已达成了大量此类交易，银行业人士预计，此类交易数量将继续上升。

　　亚洲第一笔掉期交易价值不到1亿港元(合1300万美元)，以全球标准衡量规模较小。然而，此笔交易达成之际，正值现金充裕的投资者对于投资全球一些增长最快的房地产领域的新方式兴趣日增之时。例如，这些新方式可以替代房地产股票或房地产投资信托。

　　荷兰银行房地产衍生品主管菲利普o柳比奇(Philip Ljubic)表示："房地产是香港最热门的游戏之一，香港房地产衍生品的增长潜力巨大。"荷兰银行与新鸿基金融完成了2月27日的亚洲首笔房地产掉期交易。

　　香港这笔房地产掉期交易属于一年期"价格回报掉期"。荷兰银行--此款衍生品的买家--通过获得HKU-HRPI年度变动率，得以投资香港住宅市场。HKU-HRPI是衡量香港住宅房地产价格的指数。该指数是由香港大学(University of Hong Kong)开发的一系列指数的分项指数，一定程度上特为此笔交易而开发。