We don't let our own government buy businesses, how can we let foreign governments buy them?
I believe Chevron is looking at raising their offer.
CNOOC is half the size of UNOCAL. UNOCAL is financially healthy. In theory UNOCAL could make a bid for CNOOC. That won't happen, but maybe it should. It would be interesting to see the Chinese reaction. It would illustrate that the Chinese company is not purely a commercial entitity. It is partly an instrument of Chinese foreign policy, which is why it would actually be appropriate for our government to block them from buying UNOCAL.
>>> CNOOC, which is controlled by the government of China, would expose Unocal shareholders to too much political risk, he said. <<<
I don't understand. Unocal shareholders would receive all cash from CNOOC for their shares & then would have no ownership in Unocal. Maybe Mike meant Unocal employees.
Isn't there a national security issue at stake here-- how do we let a hostile nation get a major foothold in our most precious resource?
I'm pretty free-market, hell I'm a Libertarian, but this seems like something the Fed should say 'no' to. Am I wrong here?