A unit of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group (海航集團) has agreed to buy Carlson Hotels Inc, which owns brands including Radisson and Country Inns and Suites, the latest in a flurry of overseas investments by Chinese companies.
HNA Tourism Group (海航旅遊集團) is to acquire all of Carlson Hotels, the companies said in a joint statement released late on Wednesday that did not disclose the purchase price.
They said that Carlson’s headquarters would remain in Minnetonka, Minnesota, after the deal is completed.
HNA Tourism chairman Bai Haibo (白海波) said buying Carlson Hotels would help the Chinese company “establish our presence in the US market and expand our footprint in hospitality internationally.”
Bai said that HNA would “accelerate growth by investing substantially in the business.”
The purchase is the latest in a string of global transactions by Chinese companies as they diversify abroad to counter slowing growth at home while also scooping up foreign expertise and technology.
Other deals this year include Haier Group’s deal to acquire the home-appliance business of General Electric Co, conglomerate Wanda Group Co’s (萬達集團) purchase of Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment, and state-owned China National Chemical Corp’s (中國化工) mammoth US$43 billion bid for Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG. It also comes weeks after China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co (安邦保險集團) was thwarted by Marriott International Inc in its attempt to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
As part of the Carlson Hotels deal, HNA is also to acquire a 51.3 percent stake in Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group AB, which operates Carlson hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
According to Swedish takeover rules, HNA is required to either buy the remaining shares of Rezidor it does not own or sell its stake down to 30 percent.
Carlson has 1,400 hotels in 115 countries and territories and employs about 90,000 staff worldwide.
HNA Group, based in Hainan Province, operates hotels, airlines, airports, financial services and real-estate businesses.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS