Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg yesterday declined to comment on whether he had intended to block a Chinese state-owned enterprise’s (SOE) takeover of an Australian-based construction firm.
China State Construction Engineering Corp (中國建築工程), one of the world’s biggest construction companies, had planned to buy South African-owned and Sydney-based Probuild for A$300 million (US$233.2 million).
However, Probuild’s owner, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Ltd (WBHO), told the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this week that the Chinese suitor had withdrawn its offer because Frydenberg would have blocked the sale.
“WBHO has been advised by the potential acquirer of Probuild that it has withdrawn its proposed investment application in Probuild lodged with the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board following advice that its application would be rejected by the federal government on the grounds of national security,” the parent company’s statement said.
Frydenberg declined to comment on the potential sale.
“The government does not comment on the application of the foreign investment screening arrangements as they apply or could apply to particular cases,” Frydenberg said in a statement.
China and Australia are major trading partners, but their ties markedly worsened last year when Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of China’s top grievances with Australia is Frydenberg’s decision in August last year to block the US$430 million sale of Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings Co’s Australian beverage unit to Chinese company China Mengniu Dairy Co (中國蒙牛乳業).
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) on Tuesday described Australian interference in the Probuild sale as the “latest example of how the Australian government has been politicizing trade and investment issues, violating market principles and the spirit of the China-Australia free trade agreement, and imposing discriminatory measures on Chinese companies.”
“It is a mistake to politicize normal commercial cooperation and seek political interference in the name of national security,” Zhao said.
Rebecca Mendelsohn, an Australian National University expert on foreign investment, said that the national interest question was broader than whether an asset should be in Australian or foreign hands.
“In this case, it seems the government thinks that the identity of the acquirer matters — ie, that there is no equivalence between a privately run South African firm and an SOE with alleged links to Chinese security agencies,” Mendelsohn said.
New Australian foreign investment laws came into effect on Jan. 1, which Canberra said in a statement ensured that the board “keeps pace with emerging risks and global developments.”
The board examines proposed foreign acquisitions, and advises Frydenberg on whether they are in Australia’s interests on economic and security grounds.
The changes include removing monetary thresholds that limited what acquisitions could be reviewed on national interest grounds.
Mendelsohn said that she did not think the new laws would necessarily lead to more investments being blocked.
“It does indicate the seriousness with which the government is considering the matter of national security in relation to foreign investment,” Mendelsohn said of the new laws.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty
RSS