The Independent, 20 November 2004 Saved: Chinese bail out Rover for £1bn By Michael Harrison Business Editor
MG Rover, the last remaining British-owned volume car-maker, is set to be rescued with the help of more than £1bn of Chinese cash. But the agreement with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), which is due to be signed early next year, will mean that control of the Longbridge-based motor manufacturer will pass out of British hands.
A new joint-venture company will design, develop and produce cars. It will be 70 per cent owned by the Chinese and 30 per cent by MG Rover.
The deal comes as MG Rover's financial plight worsens. Its losses this year are expected to be more than £100m and its share of UK car sales has slumped to an all-time low of under 3 per cent. Huge damage has been done to the brand by accusations of boardroom greed and asset-stripping levelled at the four Midlands businessmen who bought it from BMW four years ago for a symbolic £10. Last week, a senior BMW executive called them the "unacceptable face of capitalism".
There will be separate British and Chinese companies to manufacture the new models in Birmingham and Shanghai but the key assets and intellectual property rights of the two car-makers will be contained in the Chinese-controlled joint venture.
full: http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=584777
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NY Times, November 20, 2004 China Widens Economic Role in Latin America By LARRY ROHTER
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 19 - The expected arrival here on Friday of President Bush, who personifies for Latin Americans the economic and political power of Washington, is being greeted with an uneasy mix of protests and hopes for greater growth.
But while the United States may still regard the region as its backyard, its dominance is no longer unquestioned. Suddenly, the presence of China can be felt everywhere, from the backwaters of the Amazon to mining camps in the Andes.
Driven by one the largest and most sustained economic expansions in history, and facing bottlenecks and shortages in Asia, China is increasingly turning to South America as a supplier. It is busy buying huge quantities of iron ore, bauxite, soybeans, timber, zinc and manganese in Brazil. It is vying for tin in Bolivia, oil in Venezuela and copper here in Chile, where last month it displaced the United States as the leading market for Chilean exports.
While President Bush is spending the weekend here for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, President Hu Jintao of China is here in the midst of a two-week visit to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Cuba. In the course of it, he has announced more than $30 billion in new investments and signed long-term contracts that will guarantee China supplies of the vital materials it needs for its factories.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/international/asia/20china.html
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