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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (61471)	4/2/2005 3:18:17 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

EP, <<"high oil price is a strategic move against China">> ... :0) all that outsourcing and FDI must be a strategic move against China as well. If true, wonderful, HK can use more of that kind of strategic thinking and what passes to be brilliance :0) It is good that the world is so full of simpletons who would not know a strategy if they splat against one on the bright sunlit beach. I suppose the Chinese officialdom can simply cut tariff on petro products and lower the effective price of oil and watch J6P switch from Hummers to bicycles ;0) Folks also forget that Chinese refinery costs less than US refinery complexes. The price of raw material does not determine everything. Not even close. J6P treats cheap oil as a birthright and they automatically think everybody else normally gets gas at under 2/gallon. Either that or folks really cannot do math. The so-called "high oil price" strategy may work when all the factories are gone from the homeland and gas sells for USD 4/gallon. At that rate, Japan pulls back financing, and J6P blows up. <<AIG>> ... I missed that one as well. The financial complex is having a breakdown, and if continued, will affect the overpriced pieces of are commonly known as homes. <<energy price>> ... perplexed? why, how, in what way? I am keenly interested in your updated puzzlings. Chugs, Jay

To: energyplay who wrote (61471)	4/2/2005 7:16:46 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Hello EP, as we were discussing, what is described below is also part of the plot ofthe grand strategy against China, where wealthy Americans help Communist Chinese to take apart fully established American companies, on a huge scale, financed by J6P refi-enabled liquidity released by Greensputin, so as to speed up the move of American jobs to China and supply Chinese computers to the US :0) New Investment in Lenovo Marks An Endorsement of IBM PC Deal online.wsj.com By EVAN RAMSTAD Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April 1, 2005; Page B4 HONG KONG -- In agreeing to buy a sizable stake in Lenovo Group Ltd., three U.S. private-equity firms are giving the Chinese computer company a badly needed endorsement for its $1.25 billion purchase of the personal-computer operations of International Business Machines Corp. The private-equity firms, which yesterday confirmed plans to invest $350 million, said they believe Lenovo can achieve substantial savings and benefits from the IBM PC operations. Lenovo shares rose 3.9% on the news in Hong Kong trading, finishing at 2.65 Hong Kong dollars (34 U.S. cents), up 10 Hong Kong cents and near their level before the IBM agreement was revealed in early December. Over the past four months, Lenovo shares have sagged as much as 24% from their predeal level as investors and analysts questioned the company's ability to integrate and improve IBM's PC business, which in recent years has posted losses or has been marginally profitable at best. The investment firms -- Texas Pacific Group, General Atlantic LLC and the Newbridge Capital LLC affiliate of Texas Pacific and Blum Capital Partners -- will receive a 10.8% stake in the form of new preferred shares and warrants under the agreement, which Lenovo shareholders will be asked to approve at a special meeting yet to be scheduled. The stake could rise to 12.4% if the warrants are fully exercised. The new investors also will take three of the 12 seats on the Lenovo board. Mary Ma, Lenovo's chief financial officer, said she expects the directors appointed by the investors to play key roles in compensation, strategy and other board committees. Texas Pacific, which manages assets of more than $13 billion and has been involved in high-profile investments and turnarounds at companies including Continental Airlines Inc., was one of the bidders that lost to Lenovo for the IBM PC business. Jim Coulter, a founding partner at Texas Pacific, said the firm would be closely involved in "governance and transitional issues" as Lenovo takes control of the IBM operation, which makes IBM desktop PCs and ThinkPad laptops. Lenovo is the largest seller of PCs in China, the second-largest PC market after the U.S., but it does little business outside that country. IBM's PC operation is about four times as large as Lenovo's, but it is dominated by notebook PCs for businesses. The new investment changes the way Lenovo plans to pay for the IBM PC operation. Originally, Lenovo said it would give IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., shares valued at $600 million and cash of $650 million, which it obtained through bank loans. Now, Lenovo plans to use $150 million of the money from the private-equity firms to boost its cash payment to $800 million. It intends to issue shares valued at $450 million to IBM, which would then be left with a 13.4% stake in the combined firm. The remaining $200 million from the private-equity firms will be used for working capital, Ms. Ma said. The IBM-Lenovo deal is expected to close in the current quarter. Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com1