Hi Bill, another national security issue, according to some, has surface ... freerepublic.com concerning Huffy
I am thinking back on what Mary said only a few weeks back, about China having no international brands. She also at the time voiced something about no worthwhile innovation, and no name brand education.
The boy of a friend just got into a not so name brand US school, and the cost appears to be USD 50k per annum. I am guessing the name brand schools are about the same. What happens when the moolah for student loans dry up, and the professors still cost the same? Liquidation of endowment funds, stuffed to the gills with housing assets of all flavors and GOOG no doubt.
It is amazing to me that folks still believe money that is just paper and ink, and trust the caretakers of same to keep honest and true.
Learning is a process, less fun when hard, but less memorable/useful when easy.
reuters.com
UPDATE 2-China poised to take over U.S. Huffy bikes
Tue Jun 28, 2005 07:40 PM ET
(Recasts with background on China's bid for American corporate assets, Huffy's history)
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Chinese suppliers and an agent of China's government are poised to take control of Huffy Corp. (HUFCQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) , a venerable U.S. brand name, as the bicycle maker restructures under bankruptcy protection, it said on Tuesday.
Huffy, making bikes for Americans for more than a century, said it had agreed to a reorganization plan which would allow it to terminate its staff pension plans. The company would turn responsibility for the benefits over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a unit of the federal government that insures pension plans.
The proposal also would give the suppliers that make its bicycles in China and the China Export & Credit Insurance Corp. the right to elect a majority of its board of directors and earn up to 51 percent of its new common voting stock over five years.
The move comes as debate rages over Chinese state-owned oil company CNOOC's (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) $18.5 billion bid for the U.S. oil and gas company Unocal Corp. (UCL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . And just last week, China's largest home applicance maker, Haier Group, along with two private equity firms, made a $1.28 billion bid for Maytag Corp. (MYG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the maker of Hoover vaccums.
Earlier this year, China's Lenovo Group Ltd. purchased International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) personal computer business over objections from some China critics and a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Huffy's potential takeover by Chinese suppliers and Sinosure, the Chinese government's export credit insurance agency, is likely to add another twist to an increasingly tortuous debate over China's thirst for American companies.
Huffy, based in Miamisburg, Ohio, has been operating under bankkruptcy protection since last October.
Huffy, which plans to emerge from bankruptcy as a private company, said it was working to file its proposed reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court in July.
Existing equity holders would not receive any distributions under the plan. Huffy's unsecured creditors would get a 30 percent stake in the company in the form of Class A shares, along with a $3 million note to Sinosure.
Other unsecured creditors would get the rest of the company's equity in Class B shares and a $9 million note to Sinosure.
Huffy, which drove its early fortunes by capitalizing on the need for cheaper mode of transportation during the U.S. Depression, said it had about 3,600 retired and 130 current employees. |
