WCA March 2013

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investment to meet production commitments for auto- makers like Fisker Automotive (Anaheim, California) and General Motors. He told the Times : “We think adding A123 to our portfolio of businesses strongly aligns with our strategy for automotive and clean-tech industries in the US [and] we are committed to making the long-term investments necessary for A123 to be successful.” ❖ The A123 news is the latest in a series of announcements of sales of North American manufac- turing and energy companies to Chinese firms both privately held and state-owned. In the previous week, the Canadian government cleared a $15 billion takeover of Nexen, the energy giant, by the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC. The perceived threat that will not go away: a United Nations takeover of the Internet “In calendar year 2012, the search giant Google has spent more on Washington DC lobbyists than in any previous year, and watchdog site OpenSecrets.org lists the company as a top contributor to 118 Congressional members, on both sides of the aisle. Judging by the vote, the approach seems to be working.” Reporting from San Francisco in the Register, the British-based online tech publication, Neil McAllister was referring to the unanimous 5 th December vote of the US House of Representatives in favour of a resolution to keep the Internet “free from government control.” The move, clearly aimed at those attending the United Nations World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, was an extraordinary display of legislative bipartisanship: 397 in favour of the resolution, none opposed. With a new information and communications treaty on the WCIT agenda, the US Senate had already passed its own version of the House resolution, also in a unanimous vote, in September. (“Entire US Congress Votes Against ITU Control of Internet,” 5 th December). While wryly observing that this mightily united front was marshalled against “a thing nobody has proposed,” Mr McAllister took note as well of broader-based concern that the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) might be planning to use the WCIT to stage a power grab for governance of the Internet. In November, the European Parliament approved a resolution similar to that of the US House. For its part in the campaign to forestall the ITU, Google launched a website seeking supporters of a “free and open Net.” The site, picturing a schoolgirl seated at her computer and facing a brick wall topped by barbed wire, warns that an unchecked ITU could require services like YouTube, Facebook and Skype to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders. Google’s worry that the ITU could limit access to information – particularly in emerging markets – might be entirely sincere. Telecom

Automotive The Wanxiang America subsidiary of a large Chinese auto parts maker has big plans for a Massachusetts battery company Wanxiang Group, a manufacturing conglomerate based in Hangzhou, was highest bidder in an auction for assets of auto battery maker A123 Systems, which filed for bankruptcy in October after chronic losses and a damaging battery recall. The deal would expand Wanxiang’s share of the global market for lithium-ion batteries used in such plug-in electric hybrids as the Fisker Karma (base price: $102,000), an early “green car” whose production in the US was halted last year by the A123 bankrupcy. According to A123 (Waltham, Massachusetts), Wanxiang has agreed to pay $256 million to acquire its automotive and commercial operations, including three factories in the United States. Wanxiang would also take control of A123’s fledgling operations in China, including its interest in a joint battery venture with Shanghai Automotive, the country’s biggest carmaker. Bill Vlasic, the Detroit bureau chief for the New York Times , noted that the sale excludes A123’s business with the US government and its military contracts. That portion of the company is to be sold to Navitas Systems, a small energy company based in Illinois, for $2.2 million. A123’s chief executive, David Vieau, told the Times that spinning off the government-related business to an American buyer was meant to quell concerns about transferring sensitive military technology to China. (“Chinese Firm Wins Bid for Auto Battery Maker,” 9 th December). From the start, Mr Vlasic wrote, some members of Congress had opposed Wanxiang’s efforts to buy A123, which had received a $249 million federal grant to spur domestic manufacturing of batteries and was a centrepiece of the Obama administration’s $2 billion programme to stimulate the electric-car industry in the United States. The deal for A123 requires the approval of a US bankruptcy judge; but also of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a broad-based group led by the Treasury Department that reviews foreign takeovers of American companies. Mr Vlasic recalled that Wanxiang began its aggressive pursuit of A123 earlier in the year, when the Chinese company offered emergency loans to keep the failing battery maker afloat. Wanxiang outbid three other companies in the auction conducted for the bankruptcy court, one of which, Johnson Controls, based in Wisconsin, had tried to buy A123 as it was entering bankruptcy. ❖ Pin Ni, the president of Wanxiang’s wholly owned and fast-growing subsidiary Wanxiang America, said the deal would accelerate its growth in the American automotive and alternative-fuel industries. The privately owned company – which moved into its Chicago-area headquarters in Elgin, Illinois, in 2001 – owns several auto parts firms and other companies and employs 3,000 American workers. Mr Ni expressed confidence that Wanxiang was the best owner for A123, which he said would need considerable

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2013