China's Xugong Group (徐工集團), one of the country's biggest makers of construction machinery, said it had abandoned a controversial plan to sell a stake to US-based Carlyle Group.
Stake sale agreements signed with Carlyle over the past three years have expired, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Science and Technology Co (徐州工程機械科技), a listed unit of Xugong Group, said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late on Tuesday.
The announcement ended on again, off again negotiations over a deal widely seen as a litmus test for China’s attitude towards foreign investment.
Xugong “does not intend to continue efforts to carry out equity cooperation with Carlyle,” the statement said.
Under agreements signed in October 2005, Carlyle originally sought to pay US$375 million for a controlling 85 percent stake in Xugong.
But the deal triggered a backlash against foreign takeovers in Chinese companies in a key industry and was criticized by officials who feared state assets were being sold to foreigners at a too low price.
Carlyle has subsequently cut its target stake in Xugong twice, eventually seeking just 45 percent for 1.8 billion yuan (US$260 million).
However, the deal still failed to obtain approval from the Chinese government.
Separately, Xuzhou Construction Machinery estimated in a statement that its net profit for the first half of the year fell to only 300,000 yuan from 20.21 million yuan a year earlier, mainly due to surging raw material prices.
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
SELF-DETERMINATION: German lawmakers add earth to an art installation in front of the Reichstag to show that the face of a nation lies with its people, Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan’s future should be decided by Taiwanese, German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Till Steffen said yesterday, while giving former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) a tour of the German parliament building. Tsai arrived in Berlin on Sunday and the following day delivered a keynote speech at the Berlin Freedom Conference titled “Threats facing democracies: Taiwan’s experience defending freedom.” Tsai yesterday attended a tea gathering at the Bundestag, joined by former friendship group chairman of 15 years Klaus-Peter Willsch, German defense affairs specialist Roderich Kiesewetter and Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Brand. Noting that the
BOOST IN CONFIDENCE: The sale sends a clear message of support for Taiwan and dispels rumors that US President Donald Trump ‘sold out’ the nation, an expert said The US government on Thursday announced a possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet parts, which was estimated to cost about US$330 million, in a move that an expert said “sends a clear message of support for Taiwan” amid fears that Washington might be wavering in its attitude toward Taipei. It was the first announcement of an arms sale to Taiwan since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. The proposed package includes non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, as well repair and return support for the F-16, C-130 and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft,
RSS