The Takeover of American Companies by Foreign Aggressors Continues

[kscarbel2]

Today, I’m troubled to see Prestolite Electric (holder of the Leece-Neville brand) has joined the long list of US companies acquired by foreign aggressors.

It’s interesting to note the different schools of thought on the takeover of America’s industrial base.

You have the supporters of foreign takeover who will tell you “it doesn’t matter that foreign truckmakers have taken over America’s heavy truck industry, everything’s going to be great!”

Next you have today’s younger generation that has zero interest in their country’s state of affairs. Politicians are thrilled with this bunch that has no desire to oversee the employees of the American people in Washington and ensure they are acting in the best interest of the country.

And finally you have the middle-aged and older group that realizes we’re in serious trouble, but is sadly aware that the American people have little or no control over the government’s direction (the Constitution’s core elements having been thrown to the curb, and elections and votes going to the highest bidders).

The global economy is a real (I'm immersed in it every day). However, many confuse that development with the still present need to be protective of our national interests. Our government has been failing in this regard for about three decades. As one of the world's largest developed countries in both size and business opportunity, the United States can only have a solid economic foundation if American companies dominate our industrial base. The majority of Americans today do not realize we no longer do.

Once-American companies owned by overseas aggressors

- Germany's ZF has acquired TRW
- Italy's Fiat owns Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep
- China's Wanxiang has acquired over 20 U.S. businesses including battery maker A123, Dana’s coupled-products business, Neapco and D&R Technology.
- Germany's Daimler acquired Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit Diesel and Thomas Built Buses
- Sweden's Volvo acquired White, Autocar, GMC heavy truck and Mack Trucks

- Germany’s Knorr-Bremse owns Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems

- Prestolite Electric, which includes the Leece-Neville brand, was acquired by Zhongshan, China-based Broad Ocean Motor Company and Beijing-based Ophoenix Capital.

- Nexteer Automotive aka GM Global Steering Holdings LLC (formerly Delphi Steering and GM’s Saginaw Steering Division) was acquired by Chinese government-owned Pacific Century Motors
- Korea's Doosan owns Bobcat

- Aircraft and industrial engine maker Teledyne Continental Motors was acquired by Chinese government aircraft maker AVIC
- Canada's Bombardier acquired Learjet Corporation
- Mexico's KUO Group acquired Borg-Warner and Spicer transmissions
- Italy's Fiat thru subsidiary CNH Global owns Case-IH and New Holland
- Sweden's Volvo acquired the road construction equipment division of Ingersoll Rand
- Japan's Bridgestone owns Firestone
- France's Michelin owns Uniroyal and BF Goodrich
- China’s Beijing West Industries acquired Delphi’s brake and suspension divisions
- Netherlands-based Mittal Steel acquired (asset holder of Bethlehem Steel, LTV, Weirton Steel, Georgetown Steel and US Steel)
- Mexico's Metalsa S.A. acquired 10 Dana plants that produce structural components for chassis and body structures in light and commercial vehicles
- Germany's Siemens acquired Houston-based Dresser-Rand
- China's Shuanghui owns Smithfield Foods
- Belgium's InBev owns Anheuser-Busch
- South African Breweries (SAB) acquired Miller Brewing
- Germany's Merck KGaA acquired St. Louis-based Sigma-Aldrich
- Switzerland's Nestle owns Gerber baby foods and Purina
- Sweden's Electrolux owns Frigidaire
- South Korea's LG owns Zenith

- Netherlands-based Philips acquired Magnavox, Philco and Sylvania
- China's Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computing and x86 server businesses
- Japan's Seven & I Holdings owns 7-Eleven
- The UK's InterContinental Hotels Groups owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains, and Candlewood Suites
- China's Wanda Group owns the AMC cinema chain
- The Venezuelan government owns Citgo
- Mexico's Bimbo Group acquired Sara Lee's bakery business and the following brands: Arnold, Ball Park, Boboli, Brownberry, Cinnabon Bread, EarthGrains, Entenmann’s, Francisco, Freihofer’s, Marinela, Milton’s Bread, Mrs Bairds, Oroweat, Roman Meal, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Sun-Maid Bread, Thomas’ and Tia Rosa.

- The British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever owns Ben & Jerrys, Vaseline, Hellmann's, Best Foods, Ponds, Good Humor and Breyers
- Germany's Henkel owns Dial soap, Loctite, Orbseal and Bergquist
- Germany's Bayer acquired Miles Laboratories and Cutter Laboratories (including Cutter insect repellent, Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day, Flintstones vitamins and Bactine), and the consumer care business of Merck & Co. which included the brands Claritin (allergy), Coppertone (sun care), MiraLAX (gastrointestinals), Afrin (cold) and Dr. Scholl’s.

- Bayer CropScience acquired biological company AgraQuest
- Thailand’s Thai Union Frozen Products owns Chicken of the Sea and Orion Seafood International
- South Korea’s Dongwon owns StarKist
- The UK’s Lion Capital owns Bumble Bee Foods
- Colombia's Cementos Argos has acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Vulcan Materials and LaFarge
- UK-based Tarmac PLC acquired the cement and ready mix producing assets of Stamford, Conn.-based Lone Star Industries (for many years the largest U.S. cement maker)

- Two-wheeled electric people mover Segway has been acquired by China’s Ninebot

And the list grows longer, with increasing speed.

[39 Baby Mack]

Thanks for posting,

sure doesn't paint a very rosy picture for our children's and grandchildren's future.

Ron

[mrsmackpaul]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM I have good news and bad news

The good news your not the only country to be going thru this at the moment trust me

The bad news is I feel its gunna get a lot worse before it gets any better at least in Australia

the worst part is this problem is so easy to fix if only there was votes in it you wouldnt have to wait but alas as they say "While Rome burns the party continues" I think thats how the saying goes you get my drift you can tell Im not very educated I didnt stay at school long enough

Paul

[Bigdogtrucker]

WOW, that list is unreal. Makes me sick....

[Wobblin-Goblin]

While I completely agree with your original post, some of the takeovers on that list aren't necessarily a bad thing. For instance, if Fiat hadn't bought Chrysler Group, there probably wouldn't BE any Dodges, Chryslers, or Jeeps anymore. On top of that, from what I understand, Fiat's involvement is actually strengthening the Chrysler brands in many ways (designs are better, quality control is better, etc.).

Having said that, your post is pretty close to the mark. I'm 45 years old and the direction our country has gone in over the last 25 years or so and the speed in which it's done so is breathtaking.

[Green Dash]

That list is alarming. Quite a few That I was unaware of.

[Bigdogtrucker]

There'd still be a Dodge/Jeep, somebody else would have bought them for sure. It's a shame though so many people have bought products from companies on that list(me included) "thinking" we're supporting the a US business

[Brocky]

In the last 20 years of being associated with the VF (Vanity Fair) Corp the owners of Wrangler and Lee blue jeans, Red Cap work clothes, North Face yuppie clothes, and other similiar companys. They have gone from umteen cutting and sewing plants in the States, and a few in Mexico and Costa Rica, to ONLY 5 distribution centers. Absolutly nothing, except for very little raw cloth, is made here anymore.

When they started closing plants I asked "How does America expect to sustain our economy with no manufacturing?" I am afraid our grand children will find out the hard way...

[mowerman]

ooooh goody,,,more good news... ...thanks for sharing...bob

[Gmerrill0516]

I drive a Dodge and snear at Toyota's knowing full well that Dodge is no longer a US company and they are made in Mexico...I bet the toyotas are at least made in the USA...We are all part of a self distructive country at this point. Sad and not sure how or if we can fix it.

Thanks for the post...Sitting at EMD Millipore...owned by Merck (now) and about 5 miles from the integration team for the Sigma Aldrich/Merck aquisition. (It's lunch time).

[41chevy]

There'd still be a Dodge/Jeep, somebody else would have bought them for sure. It's a shame though so many people have bought products from companies on that list(me included) "thinking" we're supporting the a US business

We the tax payers "bought" Chrysler Corp, and "we forgave" most all of the debt when Daimler bought Chrysler. You also have to realize how much bonus monies the Executives make on the sales of the companies.

It is also not just Companies but also infrastructure. S.F. Bay bridge is / was rebuilt by a Chinese firm, with Chinese steel and most workers. The new power plant in Yaphank was built by a Chinese firm with Chinese made parts, steel and about 60% of the workers. 80% of the steel in the new WTC was from China and half of that had corrosion problems and could not be used. We are doing it to ourselves and all for the $$$. The Feds pay U.S.companies to go over seas.

[james j neiweem]

Free trade agreement's(NAFTA-GATT etc.) that were passed and never read what a beautiful thing.

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Once companies "go public" and sell stock, there is no way to keep foreign investors from buying and taking control of them. Thus while a company may have an american name, they may in fact be majority owned by foreign shareholders. Bringing this discussion back to Mack, these days a truck maker needs a volume of at least 100,000 vehicles a year to be profitable. That's half the entire market for class 8 in an average year, and a quarter of the U.S. market for classes 6-8. The only way Mack could have reached those volumes would be to undercut competitors on pricing to the point of getting that kind of market share or expand in accessible foreign markets like Europe to the point of having half of sales outside of the U.S. The opportunity to do that passed 3 decades ago, and even in the glory days of the 70s Mack only sold around 30,000 trucks a year, far short of that 100,000 a year viability threshold.

[kscarbel2]

While I completely agree with your original post, some of the takeovers on that list aren't necessarily a bad thing. For instance, if Fiat hadn't bought Chrysler Group, there probably wouldn't BE any Dodges, Chryslers, or Jeeps anymore. On top of that, from what I understand, Fiat's involvement is actually strengthening the Chrysler brands in many ways (designs are better, quality control is better, etc.).

Having said that, your post is pretty close to the mark. I'm 45 years old and the direction our country has gone in over the last 25 years or so and the speed in which it's done so is breathtaking.

My friend, there's no need to extend gratitude to the Italians. I can assure you that a gem like Jeep would have been swept up by Ford, GM or other.............at the appropriate moment. Jeep, and Dodge, would not have faded away into history.........there's too much money to be made there.

The US government allowed Fiat to buy Chrysler despite coming with empty pockets. The Fed literally placed Chrysler into the hands of a foreign aggressor, rather than ensure one of our industrial pillars remain American. Contrary to how government should be, politicians support the highest bidder.

[kscarbel2]

Once companies "go public" and sell stock, there is no way to keep foreign investors from buying and taking control of them. Thus while a company may have an american name, they may in fact be majority owned by foreign shareholders. Bringing this discussion back to Mack, these days a truck maker needs a volume of at least 100,000 vehicles a year to be profitable. That's half the entire market for class 8 in an average year, and a quarter of the U.S. market for classes 6-8. The only way Mack could have reached those volumes would be to undercut competitors on pricing to the point of getting that kind of market share or expand in accessible foreign markets like Europe to the point of having half of sales outside of the U.S. The opportunity to do that passed 3 decades ago, and even in the glory days of the 70s Mack only sold around 30,000 trucks a year, far short of that 100,000 a year viability threshold.

I don't remember the exact number and year, but I seem to recall Mack's best year was 56,000 or 64,000 units, which was very good at that point in time. We were exporting 4,000 to 4,500 trucks to Iran alone in the 1975-1979 period.

(Under Volvo ownership, I believe their best year was 2006 with 36,838 units sold........correct me if I'm wrong).

In a perfect world, Mack and Scania would have deepened their relationship to create joint economy of scale, cutting edge partners that yet could still walk their own paths. And with that, I imagine Mack selling 60,000 to 70,000 units annually, as Scania does.

[bullhusk]

Fruehauf trailer, International Harvesters construction devision, Terex (GM) and now in my industry , Coplay Cement and Hurcules are owned by the Italians, Keystone and Allentown Cement are owned by the Germans and Whitehall is now French owned. Essex Cement is owned by and imports there product from Greece! Go to Florida where Rinker ruled and you will see Cemex (Mexico), LaFarge, Heidlerg and Titan all of the big players are no longer U.S owned and although there is no price fixing in the U.S.... It doesn't stop them from sitting at a table in another County and setting a price on cement and concrete in the U.S! Now look at all of the quarry pits, most are owned by Tilcon and who owns them? Old Castle (Ireland) most of your block and concrete pavers and asphalt plants, are now owned by Old Castle. And as Kscarbl said about Vulcan and LaFarge, Lafarge just sold to Holsom (not sure of the correct spelling) and Old Castle took over most of there Canadian business and Holsom is going to take most of the U.S (La Farge assets) and as Mr Kscarbl stated........the list keeps growing!!!

BULLHUSK

[TeamsterGrrrl]

A lot of these losses can be traced to the failure of american management- Too short sighted to make long term investments and wait longer than a quarter for their companies to become profitable. During the recession of the 1980s half of our truck makers were bought up by Daimler and Volvo because while american management was divesting, they moved in and invested and patiently waited for profits. I saw the same thing happen in the bakery biz- While Wall Street "whiz kids" were cutting costs and the consumer be damned at Hostess, Bimbo methodically bought up the best run baking companies and gained the largest share of the american market.

[kscarbel2]

Free trade agreement's(NAFTA-GATT etc.) that were passed and never read what a beautiful thing.

We need jobs in America, and we must manufacture here if we wish to remain a superpower.

We must stop shipping manufacturing jobs overseas and once again make the words “Made in the USA” the world’s standard of excellence.

However the American people, realistically, have little voice in the matter. Steered by big business and other, the government has its own agenda, apart from the will of a declining portion of the people that still recall the words "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

[41chevy]

We need jobs in America, and we must manufacture here if we wish to remain a superpower.

We must stop shipping manufacturing jobs overseas and once again make the words “Made in the USA” the world’s standard of excellence.

However the American people, realistically, have little voice in the matter. Steered by big business and other, the government has its own agenda, apart from the will of a declining portion of the people that still recall the words "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

When you look at the Federal, State and local agencies for permits, environmental impact studies by the Feds, State and locals, traffic impact studies, air and water quality studies. Add to that the Zoning regulations ( one is that total parking is not set on the maximum employees but on the buildings total square footage x.5 ) and the ever present NIMBY's, compound that with banks and investors who want an immediate return, Federal and State inflated tax rates, insane energy costs. Than add more to the mix affirmative action labor laws, health care laws and yes even unions (apologies to the agencies and groups I missed) Little wonder that business will not open or stay here. To see MADE IN THE U.S.A. a lot of the regulations, tax rates, fees and red tape have to be severely adjusted or eliminated. Work with the businesses not against them. Government sees business as a cash cow and most towns and neighbors see them as interlopers. Paul

[kscarbel2]

When you look at the Federal, State and local agencies for permits, environmental impact studies by the Feds, State and locals, traffic impact studies, air and water quality studies. Add to that the Zoning regulations ( one is that total parking is not set on the maximum employees but on the buildings total square footage x.5 ) and the ever present NIMBY's, compound that with banks and investors who want an immediate return, Federal and State inflated tax rates, insane energy costs. Than add more to the mix affirmative action labor laws, health care laws and yes even unions (apologies to the agencies and groups I missed) Little wonder that business will not open or stay here. To see MADE IN THE U.S.A. a lot of the regulations, tax rates, fees and red tape have to be severely adjusted or eliminated. Work with the businesses not against them. Government sees business as a cash cow and most towns and neighbors see them as interlopers. Paul

I completely agree. But in speaking on this subject, I suggest we need to separate big business from small and middle sized business. It's no secret that the government is in bed with most big business. That's how NAFTA came to be, a scheme set up at the request of big US business wanting to produce cheaply in Mexico without import tariffs. It wasn't, in fact, about creating more US jobs (it's amazing the government could tell the American people that with a straight face).

Big business obviously doesn't have the best interest of the American people at heart, but it does have fairly solid control of the government. Until this situation is corrected...............

Big US business has always had its own agenda, however in decades past, it generally resulted in a strong America. Now it doesn't, and a properly performing government would oversee American business in the best interests of the country, rather than the best interests of big business.

And then you have the plight of the small and medium sized businesses, where our local, state and federal governments at times appear to be working unreasonably against them. Yes, we need regulation, however we also need a pro-U.S. business environment.

[grayhair]

Agree with KSC 100%. Sadly, the problem is rooted in our Congress. U.S. House and U.S. Senate positions should be volunteer positions filled by patriots who want to serve their country. There should be NO salary, NO pension, NO exemption from Obummer care, NO exemption from insider trading rules. The founding fathers warned us the country would be in peril when elites could vote themselves privileges. They also fretted the country would fail if it ever happened there were only two political parties of consequence. And here we are.