Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — Growing Chinese companies will seek to buy those in the U.S., which is a “natural and desirable” action because the U.S. needs to attract investment from abroad, said the chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc’s Asia unit. “It is natural and desirable Chinese companies acquire assets in the U.S.,” Vincent Cheng, chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., said in a speech today at the Asia Society in New York. “America should be flattered.” HSBC Asia Chairman Says Takeovers of U.S. Companies `Natural’
Several acquisition attempts by Chinese companies have fallen through, including Cnooc Ltd.’s $18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp. earlier this year, because of opposition from some U.S. lawmakers who saw the offer as a bid by China to compete for energy resources. In 2003, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. scrapped a plan to buy Global Crossing Ltd. because of a U.S. national security review. Not every purchase has flopped. Lenovo Group Ltd., China’s largest personal computer maker, bought International Business Machines Corp.’s personal computer division this year for $1.25 billion.
China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, is at the tail end of a two-year investment boom that drove raw-material costs higher and led to overcapacity in industries including steel, mobile phones and home appliances. Coal, copper and oil producers are still benefiting from higher prices.
Related posts:
