Tengzhong

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery

Type	Privately owned company
Industry	Automotive Heavy equipment
Founded	2005 (Chengdu)
Headquarters	Chengdu, China
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Construction equipment Heavy-duty trucks
Website	www.sctengzhong.com

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd. is based in Chengdu, China. Sichuan Tengzhong is a privately owned company known for making a wide range of road equipment, such as bridge piers, highway construction and maintenance machinery. Sichuan Tengzhong has been moving more into heavy-duty trucks, including tow trucks and oil tankers.

Aborted acquisition of Hummer

On 1 June 2009, as a part of General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization announcement, GM revealed that Hummer brand would be discontinued. However, the following day GM announced it had reached a deal to sell the brand to an undisclosed buyer.^[1] On 2 June 2009 GM announced the sale of Hummer to a non-disclosed Chinese company.^[2] The New York Times reported Tuesday that the buyer would be the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd., a machinery company in western China.^[3][4] Late Tuesday Sichuan Tengzhong itself posted it on their own website.^[5] The transaction was expected to close in the third quarter of 2009, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.^[5] Credit Suisse acted as exclusive financial advisor and Shearman&Sterling acted as international legal counsel to Tengzhong on this transaction. Citi acted as financial advisor to GM.^[5]

General Motors announced on 9 October 2009 that they have sold their entire stake in the Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery and a group of private investors (Suolang Duoji! a private entrepreneur with holdings that include the Hong Kong-listed thenardite producer Lumena, will hold the remaining 20 percent stake.). Sichuan now owns 80% of the company, Autoblog reports. The sale will net GM around US$150 million, although the transaction had to be approved by both Chinese and US regulatory agencies it was anticipated to occur in 2010.^[6][7]

The deal includes manufacturing to continue in the two plants that GM already uses to produce the Hummer trucks until June 2011, with a possible extension until 2012.

Prior to the 2009 sale a handful of other Chinese automakers, including Chang Feng, expressed interest in the brand, but all declined to make a formal offer.^[8]

On 24 February 2010, The Chinese Ministry of Commerce rejected Tengzhong's bid to purchase Hummer from General Motors. ^[9]

References