China to buy US assets via GM pension

[alp227]

Last edited Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: FT

The Chinese government has agreed to buy investment stakes currently held by General Motors’ pension plan, in a deal that will make Beijing a sizeable investor in many of the US and Europe’s largest private equity funds.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages China’s more than $3tn in foreign exchange reserves, will pay $1.5bn-$2bn for GM’s positions in blue chip private equity funds managed by firms including Carlyle Group, Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.

Performance Equity, an advisory firm that manages pension investments for GM and its affiliates, is one of many traditional private equity investors who are reducing their investments with private equity groups in order to lower the risk of their portfolios.

Investors in private equity typically agree to lock up their money for as long as 10 years, but can cash out earlier by finding a buyer for their stake.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82cd520a-d0f9-11e1-8957-00144feabdc0.html?rss

[JDPriestly]

1. This scares me. Having Saudi Arabia so heavily invested in the US is problem enough. But this?

[sarcasmo]

5. When China winds up owning everything do they send in the military and take over?

[JDPriestly]

7. Don't we?

[patricia92243]

8. They won't need to - they will just leagally own everything and take over.

My grandmother said Communisim would take over without a shot being fired - she meant Russia. She has been dead 40 years. She didn't know how prophetic her words were - but different than she understood them.

[Kokonoe]

2. Wayback Machine doesn't have that page archived.

But anything that benefits unions







sarcasm

[alp227]

4. Fixed link.

[Earth_First]

3. Do I read this correctly; that the Chinese will be partially funding GM pension payments...?

Yikes!

[FarCenter]

6. Why not! The Chinese operation is General Motors most profitable part of the company.

Is General Motors Now China Motors?
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/markets/item/11621-is-general-motors-now-china-motors

In less than 24 hours, Vince Wade’s YouTube video of General Motor’s CEO Dan Akerson’s (pictured next to GM's logo) speech touting the car company’s increasing investment in China has gone viral, with nearly 500,000 views. Noting that GM — derisively called Government Motors by some – received nearly $50 billion of bailout funds in 2009, Wade asked: “Did we bail out General Motors to have it become China Motors?”

According to Akerson, GM now:

Makes almost 70 percent of its vehicles outside the US
Has more than 2,700 dealerships in China
Operates 11 assembly plants in China
Has 11 joint ventures in China with two Chinese government-controlled companies
Regards these joint ventures “as 11 keys to success.”

Akerson added:

Our commitment to working in China, with China, for China, remains strong and focused on the future.

We’re now building out the advanced technology center which will bring our research and development that is centered largely in the United States…we’re going to diversify that more into China because we think this market is so critically important to the success of our company…

[China] is the crown jewel in the GM universe.