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China's Huawei pursues Britain's Marconi
After computers, cars and oil, will China's foreign acquisition target be telephones? British news reports say Huawei Technologies Inc., China's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, is in talks with Marconi Corp. PLC on a possible takeover of the struggling British firm, the Associated Press reported. The news suggests that corporate China hasn't lost its appetite for foreign assets despite the acrimonious, highly publicized withdrawal last week of CNOOC Ltd.'s US$18.5 billion (euro15 billion) bid for U.S. oil and gas producer Unocal Corp. A Huawei-Marconi deal, if completed, would be hugely symbolic: The purchase of a British industrial landmark -- one that traces its roots to the inventor of radio -- by a 17-year-old firm that represents China's new economic vigor and high-tech ambitions. A Huawei spokesman declined Tuesday to comment. Marconi issued a statement in London saying it was exploring "all strategic options" with other firms. It didn't confirm whether that meant Huawei and warned that there was no assurance it could make a deal. Huawei and Marconi make telecom switching equipment -- the guts of a phone system that the public doesn't see but that is critically important in the age of cell phones and the Internet. Unlike CNOOC's bid, a tie-up between them would have more in common with successful acquisitions involving struggling foreign companies that actively courted Chinese buyers as corporate saviors. The deal could be worth 560 million British pounds ($1 billion), according to London's Sunday Times. It would add Marconi's customer network -- a key asset in an industry where sales depend on close ties between vendors and buyers -- to Huawei's booming international business and strength in research and development, said Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China Ltd., a respected telecommunications consulting firm in Beijing. "This is not a deal to show how international they are. It's something that's logical for the business," Clark said. "Huawei's been plugging away at this for years, since before it was fashionable to do so." The acquisition of Marconi would add to an unprecedented series of high-profile take-overs by Chinese companies over the past year as they try to establish a place on the global stage. Computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. bought IBM Corp.'s PC business in an amicable deal. Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corp. bought MG Rover out of bankruptcy after the British automaker pursued Nanjing and another Chinese company as potential buyers. Others went less smoothly. CNOOC complained bitterly about political criticism in Washington when it called off its Unocal bid. Haier dropped out of bidding for Maytag after rival appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. launched a competing offer. Huawei and Marconi already have ties, with a deal signed earlier this year to sell each other's equipment in their home markets. Marconi is a British institution that traces its roots in part to the company founded in 1897 by Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor of radio. The firm is part of the FTSE 100 -- the main index of the London Stock Exchange. After reports of Huawei's interest, its shares rose 39.25 pence, or 14.7 percent, to close at 306.25 pence Monday on the London Stock Exchange. By contrast, Huawei is a relative newcomer. Founded in 1988, it is one of China's two leading makers of telecoms gear, along with rival Zhongxing Telecom Equipment Corp. The company says it made a US$625 million (euro508 million) profit last year on sales of US$3.8 billion (euro3 billion). Most significantly for its global aspirations, the company says more than half of those sales were made outside China. It has 55 branch offices abroad, in places as far-flung as Peru, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. The company prides itself on creating its own technology, boasting that 14,500 of its 30,000 employees are in R&D, and that 90 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher -- an impressive figure in China, where only a tiny fraction of the population makes it to university. Its headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen is a California-style enclave of green lawns and glassy modern buildings. Huawei broke into international markets by targeting developing countries with its low-cost equipment. But more recently, it has begun to move into developed countries with sales in Europe and the United States. "They have raw talent and the ability to throw people at a problem," said Clark. "It's hard to match." Huawei has struggled to gain a foothold in the U.S. market. It is best known there for an embarrassing lawsuit by Cisco Systems Inc., which accused the Chinese firm of copying its technology. Cisco dropped the suit after Huawei agreed to change its products. For both Huawei and Marconi, the turning point came when British Telecom awarded a 10 billion British pound ($17.8 billion) contract to build a new network. Huawei was among the winning bidders, while Marconi, a longtime BT supplier, lost out. The British firm cut 800 of its 10,000 jobs and, according to news reports, effectively put itself up for sale. Clark called that a "rite of passage" that showed that Huawei was ready to compete with established companies. "Marconi needs to win new customers," Clark said. "And if the way to do that is to have greater R&D horsepower in China, then Huawei is a good fit."
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