A Short History Of Auto Overseas Deals

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.

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