07-03-2007 SHANGHAI
Automotive Industry Corp spent US$500 million to buy a 48.9 percent stake in South
Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co in October 2004. The
deal was the first overseas merger and acquisition in China's automotive industry
and helped the home-grown Chinese car maker strengthen its capabilities in sports
utility vehicles. SAIC
agreed to pay US$116 million to buy the intellectual property rights to the Rover
25 and Rover 75 sedans from the bankrupted British MG Rover Corp in the first
half of 2005. The two models were used to develop SAIC's self-owned models following
the government's call to boost automotive strength. Nanjing
Automobile Group announced it had acquired the failed MG Rover Corp with an investment
of 50 million pounds (US$87.5 million) in July 2005. The acquisition enabled the
Nanjing, Jiangsu Province-based car maker to get a complete production line as
well as the MG and Austin brands. It restarted production in MG Rover's plant
in Longbridge in Britain and in China after shipping back facilities. Wanxiang
Group, China's largest auto parts maker, was reportedly in talks with Ford to
buy some of its car-component assets at the end of last year, as part of efforts
to increase international competitiveness.
| 
