Surprise: U.S. Government Won't Give Money To Chinese-Owned A123
Battery maker A123 was sold to China’s Wanxiang Group, but the company won’t come with more government money. The DOE won’t give A123 Systems Inc. the balance of a $249 million grant, a department official tells Reuters. Wanxiang, in the meantime, let it become known that it did not ask for the grant money, and that it did not anticipate receiving it.
The deal needs court and U.S. government approval. Court approval is more or less certain after Wanxiang outbid Johnson Controls. Approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is another matter. The U.S. government is under a lot of criticism for throwing good money after bad companies.
If the deal won’t get government approval, A123 would be put back on the auction block, whereupon Johnson Controls would be very interested in bidding again, Alex Molinari, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, told Reuters.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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The money already given is gone. Along with all tech and, if any, patents.
Slightly confused here, does the denial of the unexpected grant affect whether or not the sale of A123 to Wanxiang will be approved?
In other news, E46M3_333 won't be banging Britney Spears this week. Ms. Spears did not ask to be banged, and a spokesperson for E46M3_333 said he did not anticipate banging Ms. Spears.
I'm guessing this won't get through the committee. Right now selling things to the Chinese isn't politically smart. Especially companies that have been on the receiving end of government money. There is also DOD technology involved here but since we're talking batteries and not encryption codes and other stuff, I'm guessing it's not quite such critical technology.