Fresh on the heels of a victory in its bid to buy Canadian energy exploration firm Nexen (Toronto: NXY), China is preparing to test its luck once again with another sensitive attempt to buy one of the largest US aircraft leasing companies from insurance giant AIG (NYSE: AIG). I previously predicted the Canadian government would ultimately approve the purchase of Nexen from state-run Chinese oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO), which the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper finally did just before the weekend after months of foot dragging. But a separate group of state-backed buyers that includes China’s biggest bank ICBC (HKEx: 1398; Shanghai: 601398) should look closely at the fine print in final Nexen verdict, which could presage a bumpy flight path ahead in their surprise $5.5 billion bid for ILFC, the aircraft leasing arm of AIG.
Tag Archives: Petronas
CNOOC-Nexen: Waiting for Signs From Beijing 中海油收购尼克森：等待中国政府的信号
Oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) has just released its latest quarter results that look generally upbeat, but media have predictably focused instead on the company’s pending $15 billion bid for Nexen (Toronto: NXY) which is still awaiting approval by the Canadian government. Since everyone else is guessing on whether Ottawa will ultimately approve this deal, I’ll go ahead and add my name to the list and predict the deal will get approved when Canada announces its decision next month. But there’s one caveat to my prediction, namely that Beijing will need to give some kind of signal — the more openly, the better — that it is willing to give Canadian companies similar access to the Chinese market where state-run firms currently dominate the resources sector.
