GM, Tengzhong, and Hummer

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/02/gm-tengzhong-and-hummer

China apparently keeps pretty tight control even on its privately owned companies. China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to close on its bid to acquire Hummer from General Motors after the Chinese government failed to approve the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Chinese approval for the deal was never a sure bet given the government's recent efforts to press Chinese auto companies to make smaller, more efficient cars," the Journal reports. In America acquisitions sometimes need government approval for antitrust reasons, and the government imposes fleetwide corporate average fuel economy standards on automakers, but it would be unusual to see the government block an acquisition just because the government thinks the product made by the company to be acquired is undesirable. During the financial crisis, the Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, who had extensive China experience, did go around telling banks what other banks they should buy.

by Ira Stoll  |  Feb 26, 2010 at 7:36 am Related Topics:  Auto Industry, China receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list