Chinese companies bought $6.5 billion in U.S. assets this year; buying spree expected to continue

[jsr]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-deals-20121211,0,4543693.story

Deal for AIG unit caps record year for Chinese investment in U.S.
Chinese companies have snapped up $6.5 billion in U.S. assets this year, and the buying spree is expected to continue. Analysts suspect it will face greater political scrutiny.
By Don Lee and W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times

Capping a record year of Chinese deal-making in the U.S., a consortium of state-owned and private investors is planning the biggest Chinese takeover of an American company: $4.2 billion for one of the world's largest aircraft leasing firms.

The deal to buy 80.1% of International Lease Finance Corp., a Century City subsidiary of insurance giant American International Group Inc., followed a weekend auction in which another Chinese company bought three U.S. factories and other assets of electric-car battery maker A123 Systems Inc.

Chinese companies this year also have picked up AMC Entertainment, one of the largest movie theater chains in North America, as well as stakes in energy, real estate and other companies in service industries.

The deal for the aircraft leasing firm, which must be cleared by federal officials, is a likely harbinger of more and bigger deals to come and reflects the increasing sophistication of Chinese companies and their determination to expand into new markets and strengthen their technologies and global capabilities....

[leftstreet]

1. Do other 'countries' own US assets? n/t

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Yea, well, how many U.S. politicians did they buy?

How many politicians are going to support the pending let's-send-even-more-jobs-to-foreign-countries-like-China "free-trade" agreement?

If there is any better way to destroy what is left of the American middle-class, what is it?

China has lots of money. Do they know that many of our politicians as so accustomed to selling out that they can sell our country cheaply?