Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
One of China's largest state-controlled oil companies made a $18.5 billion unsolicited bid for Unocal today, launching the first-ever big takeover battle by a Chinese company for an American corporation. The bold bid, by the China National Offshore Oil Corp., may be a watershed in Chinese corporate behavior, and it demonstrates the increasing influence of Wall Street's bare-knuckled hostile takeover tactics in Asia. The offer is also the latest symbol of China's growing economic clout and of the soaring ambitions of its corporate giants, particularly when it comes to the energy resources it needs desperately to continue feeding the nation's huge growth.
CNOOC's bid, which comes two months after Unocal agreed to be sold to Chevron for $16.4 billion, is expected to trigger a potentially costly bidding war over the California-based Unocal, a large independent American oil company. Moreover, the bid is likely to provoke a fierce debate in Washington, D.C., about the nation's trade policies with China and the role of the two governments in the growing trend of deal making between companies in both countries.
Wow.
TrackBackI wonder if we will ever hear about this in the mainstream press?
Posted by: Tripp at June 23, 2005 09:38 AM"Two Republican congressmen from California, Richard Pombo and Duncan Hunter, wrote a letter last week to President Bush, after speculation concerning the deal arose, urging that the transaction be scrutinized because of concerns of national security.
"In their letter, they wrote: 'As the world energy landscape shifts, we believe that it is critical to understand the implications for American interests and most especially, the threat posed by China's governmental pursuit of world energy resources.' "
Shorter Rep.s Pombo/Hunter: no one will be allowed to challenge us. Free market? Competition? Bullshit...
Posted by: at June 23, 2005 09:44 AMIf we weren't fucking addicted to oil, this wouldn't be a problem...
Posted by: Sterling at June 23, 2005 09:45 AMRE:
I wonder if we will ever hear about this in the mainstream press?
RE:
I wonder if we will ever hear about this in the mainstream press?
Unocal was the company the Bushies were working for when they promised to bury the Taliban under a carept of bombs if they didn't get their pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Arabian Sea (back when those guys were, ala Sadam in 1980, our kind of bad guys). Looks like Chevron almost has this deal in the bag, BUT, China is obviously hoping that pipeline runs North, not South... oh, and 70% of Unocals proven reserves are on what continent?
Couple that with Gazprom and Rosneft buying Yukos to create a Russo Super Monopoly that wants to do big business with China, and the fact that China could decide to further leverage is position by buying its oil with US Treasury Bonds; hell, some people think the US may be ready for an oil war, and I think a lot of people would go for it (oh, the theories get crazier)...
Yeah. Oil, bad.
Posted by: Sterling at June 26, 2005 01:08 PM