WSJ: “A Chinese bidder is in advanced talks to buy the bulk of aerospace company Hawker Beechcraft Inc.’s businesses for $1.79 billion, an approach that could raise political concerns given U.S. sensitivities about previous Chinese attempts to buy American assets.
Superior Aviation Beijing Co. will have an exclusive right for 45 days to negotiate to buy Hawker’s corporate jet and propeller plane operations, the U.S. company said. If a deal is reached, Superior would serve as the opening bidder in a bankruptcy auction in which other suitors could try to top its offer.
Hawker Beechcraft filed for bankruptcy protection in May. Above, an employee shown last year working on a jet at its Wichita, Kan., plant.
Superior, which has ownership ties to Beijing’s municipal government, won’t be bidding on Hawker’s defense unit because of potential U.S. national-security concerns about foreign purchases of such assets.
Hawker’s defense business houses military technology and sells military training and light attack aircraft to U.S. and foreign governments. The business, called Hawker Beechcraft Defense Co., will continue to operate and could later be sold separately. If sold, Hawker said, the company would refund as much as $400 million of Superior’s $1.79 billion purchase price.
A winning bid by Superior would further the ambitions of China’s aerospace industry to move deeper into jet production, as well as give Superior itself a bigger role in the industry. Makers of small aircraft have been looking to China recently as a key source of demand as the market for business jets shrinks.”
via Chinese Firm Pursues Hawker – WSJ.com.
This is in line with our analysis of Chinese acquisitions: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/02/13/pattern-of-chinese-overseas-investments/
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