Dubai's $1.2 Bln Bid for U.S. Weapons Maker Delayed (Update3)

[maddezmom]

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai, which agreed this month to sell its interest in U.S. ports, said its $1.2 billion takeover of a U.K. company with U.S. plants that make military equipment is delayed while the authorities investigate security concerns.

Dubai International Capital LLC, which is owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, and Doncasters Group Ltd. agreed to delay the transaction by as many as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase, Sameer Al Ansari, Dubai International's chief executive, said in an interview today.

``After what happened with Dubai Ports, the government is looking at this deal more closely,'' Al Ansari said after a press conference in Dubai announcing an agreement with HSBC Holdings Plc.

Dubai's bid may ignite a political debate in the U.S. similar to that caused last month by the emirate's $6.8 billion purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. DP World had to agree to sell interests in six U.S. terminals. Revenue from Doncasters' nine U.S. plants, which make parts for tanks and military aircraft, account for about 40 percent of total sales.

``If this deal isn't approved by the U.S., it wouldn't proceed,'' said Angus Blair, chief executive of Mena Financial, a London-based company which advises foreign companies about doing business in the Middle East.

more:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aYviQvnuQG0c

[wordpix2]

1. here we go again with US profiteers selling their goods to all sides

[UpInArms]

2. more from your link:

Dubai International is buying Doncasters from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, its owner since 2001. Shaun Gamble, a spokesman for Royal Bank of Scotland in London, declined to comment in a telephone interview today.

Royal Bank of Scotland's private equity unit bought Doncasters, started in 1778 by Daniel Doncaster, for $261 million. The sale initially agreed to on Dec. 14 would represent a more- than-quadrupling of its investment in 4 1/2 years.

Dubai International last year spent $1 billion for a stake in DaimlerChrysler AG and 800 million pounds ($1.4 billion) for Tussauds Group, owner of London's Madame Tussauds waxworks museum.

Doncasters, which is based in Melbourne, England, has plants in Rincon, Georgia; Groton, Connecticut, and other U.S. sites. Its customers include Boeing Co. and General Electric Co., according to information on its Web site.

Gulf Arab governments, flush with record oil revenue, are spending billions of dollars on companies from South Korea to the U.S.

Kuwait's state-controlled PWC Logistics, which won a U.S. military contract last year worth as much as $14 billion to feed troops in Iraq, agreed in July to buy Santa Ana, California-based GeoLogistics Corp. for $454 million. GeoLogistics is an international freight management company with operations in more than 100 countries, according to its Web site.

[anotherdrew]

3. why all these profitable british companies selling out?

other british stuff's been sold to Carlyle group in recent years. Tony seems to be gutting the country?

[bemildred]

4. That's what I was wondering?

My original thought was that its a pump and dump, with this being the dump phase.

[sabra]

5. NYT: Dubai Will Delay Another Acquisition Involving U.S. Plants

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21dubai.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Dubai Will Delay Another Acquisition Involving U.S. Plants


By BLOOMBERG NEWS

The Dubai government delayed its $1.2 billion purchase of a military equipment maker yesterday, the second time in a month that a takeover by the Middle East emirate has been jeopardized by American security concerns.

Dubai International Capital, owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, said that it would delay its acquisition of the Doncasters Group, a British company that has nine plants in the United States, by as much as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase.

"After what happened with Dubai Ports, the government is looking at this deal more closely," Sameer al-Ansari, Dubai International's chief executive, said in an interview.

Dubai International is buying Doncasters from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, its owner since 2001. Shaun Gamble, a spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, declined to comment yesterday.

[sattahipdeep]

6. Investigation?

52-yearold lawyer Katherine Ward jumping from the Jury's Hotel.

:hi:

[salin]

7. All I can say, is that if MSM starts playing up the story...

:popcorn:

[CJCRANE]

8. You know

I get the funny feeling that while the "useful idiots" B*sh and Blair have been playing up the boogeymen in Iran/Iraq/Syria the rival rich oil monarchies have been quietly consolidating their power and buying up whatever they can get their hands on (with the complicity of the two B's, in a very clever game of double-bluff).

[NVMojo]

9. Dubai Will Delay Another Acquisition Involving U.S. Plants

Published: March 21, 2006
The Dubai government delayed its $1.2 billion purchase of a military equipment maker yesterday, the second time in a month that a takeover by the Middle East emirate has been jeopardized by American security concerns.

Dubai International Capital, owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, said that it would delay its acquisition of the Doncasters Group, a British company that has nine plants in the United States, by as much as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase.

"After what happened with Dubai Ports, the government is looking at this deal more closely," Sameer al-Ansari, Dubai International's chief executive, said in an interview.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21dubai.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&dlbk=&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1142953335-0UG0B5U97RU7Fa1rSYvPtg