Government Motors: Chinese Government, Kuwaiti Government …

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

The Freep says GM has appointed a Vice President of diversity. And they’ll need one. GM’s post-IPO ownership roster shapes up to be quite, well, diverse. China’s SAIC appears to be gung-ho for the IPO. And it’s not just the Chinese government that likes the idea of owning a little bit of America.

Reuters reports that Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), a sovereign wealth fund, has indicated their interest in purchasing part of General Motors. Bader al-Saad, KIA’s Managing Director, thinks he might be getting a deal: ” If it is feasible for us we will look in it…if it is something cheap, we are interested of course.” If the KIA were to buy a stake in GM, it would be rather interesting. A quick look at the Wikipedia page for the KIA shows that that they also hold a significant stake in Daimler AG; almost 7 percent of the Stuttgart company. What is to stop the KIA acting like a bridge between GM and Daimler? Daimler needs the economies of scale and some European technology wouldn’t go amiss at GM. Yes, it is a bit farfetched. What is not so far-fetched is that all this talk that GM needed to be rescued because one day we might need them to build tanks and halftracks, sounds sillier by the minute.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • HerrKaLeun HerrKaLeun on Nov 07, 2010

    does it really matter who buys the shares now? I mean even if only American bought them now, they can turn around tomorrow and sell the shares to whoever pays the most, which might be the Chinese or BMW or Santa Claus.

  • Trend-Shifter Trend-Shifter on Nov 07, 2010

    I do not believe that the country of origin matters in the ownership of a USA based company. What helps the economy is "point of manufacturing". Look at China.... The country is full of foreign multi-nationals without Chinese ownership. What works for China is those foreign multi-national companies manufacture in China. They still benefit even though the profits can be brought back to that company's home country. The exact opposite is true for the USA. USA multi-national companies change the point of manufacturing from the USA to China. Our poor economy is a direct result of their offshore "point of manufacturing" model. Those offshore profits provide little benefit to the USA unless they are invested stateside. So does USA ownership matter?

  • Geozinger Geozinger on Nov 07, 2010

    Another hit generating headline that leads to a posting with a patchwork of thoughts. But none coherently connecting. What is this irrational fear of the 'Chinese' buying into GM? I would think that further ties between GM and SAIC would be a good thing, as the Middle Kingdom will be where the action is for a while. Additonally, so what if the Chinese or the Kuwaitis or the Borg buy into GM? They will be limited to a few percentage points, at most. For the foreseeable future, the UAW, US and Canadian government are majority shareholders. IF these different funds buy into GM, this will be a good thing. It will be net money INTO the US economy; rather than in going out.

  • Alex Nigro Alex Nigro on Nov 07, 2010

    The Chinese buying into GM? I don't see that going well in America...

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