China and Japan buy up Western Assets
Two articles caught my attention yesterday from the WSJ’s Asia edition. If you’re a subscriber I highly suggest giving them a quick read. Whether it’s China – socialism with Chinese characteristics, or Japan – arguably one of the most “socialist” countries in the world within a capitalist system… They both saved for rainy days and outbound acquisitions of Western companies have grown in the past 1-2 years.
China Buys Up Spain’s Assets – WSJ
A debt-laden Spanish construction firm became the latest European company to unload assets onto eager Chinese buyers, as Europe’s debt woes force firms to look to China for cash.
State Grid Corp., China’s government controlled power-grid operator, said Tuesday it would buy high-voltage electricity transmission assets in Brazil from Spain’s Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA for 1.86 billion reais ($938.2 million), including debt. The deal is State Grid’s second investment in Brazil and its fourth major investment overseas, and is the most recent in a string of deals in which a European company has looked to exit an investment amid financial troubles facing the region.
Click here to read the complete article from the WSJ’s website
Cash-Rich Japanese Firms Go on Global Buying Spree – WSJ
Flush with cash and bolstered by a strong currency, Japanese companies are in the midst of the biggest boom in overseas investment the country has ever seen.
On Tuesday, Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. 8002.TO 0.00% said it agreed to buy U.S. grain handler Gavilon Group LLC in a deal that could be worth as much as $5.6 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt. That would make the Gavilon purchase the biggest foreign acquisition for a Japanese company this year and the seventh-biggest globally, according to deal tracker Dealogic.
Click here to read the complete article from the WSJ’s website
