The New York Times reports on the reaction within China to the government proposed purchase of a $3 billion stake in the American private equity firm Blackstone:
The Chinese government is acquiring nearly 10 percent of an influential investment company without a repeat of the fights that surrounded a bid two years ago by a state-owned oil company, Cnooc, for an American rival, Unocal, or last year’s effort by DP World of Dubai to assume management of American port terminals.
While Blackstone is well known in global finance, it is not a household name in the United States and the sale of the stake has attracted little attention in Congress. But in China, opinion remains divided between those who see the deal as a way to buy a big stake in an important company and those who worry that the government is leaping into deals without a clear investment strategy. [Full text]
