Acquisition of Hummer Failed
来自Daniel’s Blog: http://danielyoung.blog.sohu.com/
Daniel: I learned from FT that the deal could not be completed. What a shame! The official policy of China is to encourage companies to invest abroad, but most corporations which indeed make inroads into the foreign markets are owned by the government. They can easily get the official approval and financial support. However, it is not a rarity that those investments go sour and taxpayers end up paying a heavy price for the unsound decisions.
As FT puts it, "Hummer was emblematic of American’s love-affair with gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles". In other words, Hummer may not be environmentally friendly. Nevertheless, it is not a good reason to break the deal. On the one hand, the major target market of Hummer is not necessarily China. On the other hand, Chinese government can impose taxes on the sales of Hummer, or increase the taxation on gas if they are worried about the emission of greenhouse gases.
Having stating the reasons why the deal should not be blocked, I’d also like to make a case for the private investment in foreign market. The bottom line is that if the investment turns out to be insensible, it is the “capitalists” rather than the taxpayers who will incur the losses. More importantly, western governments tend to be less suspicious about private enterprise than about the state-owned one. As twin surpluses of China grow, sooner or later, Chinese corporations will build a global presence. I hope private companies will pay the leading role in it.
By the way, Chinese officials claimed that they did not block the bid. Although I have no reliable sources to verify or refute the claim, I find the lack of clarity in the approval process alarming. China’s ranking in the “Doing Business” will be improved if the process of obtaining a permit is no longer a labyrinth.

下文来自http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6b9aef5c-2183-11df-830e-00144feab49a.html
GM’s Hummer China deal collapses
By Paul Gregan, John Reed and Bernard Simon

Published: February 23 2010 10:20 | Last updated: February 24 2010 22:14

General Motors on Wednesday night gave up on efforts to sell its Hummer operations to a Chinese buyer and said it would now wind down production of the heavy SUV.

In a statement GM said Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines was unable to complete the acquisition.

The Chinese company’s attempt to acquire the brand had already faced rejection by Beijing, throwing what would have been a landmark deal into disarray and further undermining the prospects of cross-border deals involving mainland companies.

GM has been trying to shed Hummer for a year as part of its corporate reinvention after going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, part of which was a plan to focus on what it saw as more core brands such as Chevrolet and Buick.

But this marks GM’s second failure to sell a lossmaking car brand. The Saturn sale fell apart last year. GM did manage successfully to sell Saab to Spyker in a deal that closed this week, after a troubled gestation period.

John Smith GM vice-president of corporate planning said: “We have since considered a number of possibilities for Hummer along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed.

”GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner.”

According to people familiar with the matter, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery had been making a last-ditch attempt to secure regulatory approval from China’s commerce ministry for its deal to buy Hummer.

But Wang Chao, China’s assistant commerce minister, was reported as saying on Wednesday that China had not blocked the bid.

GM said it would continue to honor Hummer warranties, and provide service support and spare parts to current owners.

GM and the Sichuan Tengzhong, a previously little-known provincial machinery company, had set a deadline of this week to conclude the $160m acquisition. But in a foretaste of the final collapse of the deal, the sides had already extended that deadline by a month due to problems gaining regulatory approval.

“The chances of this deal happening are getting worse by the day, and there is no clarity surrounding the approvals process,” said one person familiar with the matter before the announcement of the end of the talks.

The Chinese buyer has been battling since June to acquire the Hummer brand, its top staff and the company’s existing licensing, dealership and manufacturing agreements.

One stumbling block is believed to have been a push by China authorities to get consumers to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles for its domestic market, rather than petrol-hungry Hummers, in spite of Sichuan Tengzhong saying it could produce a lighter version of a model originally based on the concept a US military vehicle, the Humvee.

For a decade after its introudction in the early 1990s, the Hummer was emblematic of American’s love-affair with gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles.

GM sought to move with the times by introducing a considerably smaller model, the H3, which shares the same platform as its other big SUVs. Nonetheless, Hummer sales have dropped sharply in recent years as buyers have migrated to smaller vehicles.