As editor of Did Chinese plastics machinery major Haitian International Holdings Ltd. turn down an offer to buy a stake in an overseas competitor? That's the story from the Xinhua News Agency, which reported the item in a feature story about the tough choices that Chinese companies face with mergers and acquisitions.
Xinhua quotes Haitian CEO Zhang Jingzhang, saying the company had turned down an overseas competitors' invitation for "business restructuring" last year.
"We can afford the price it asked for, but we cannot digest the company," Zhang told Xinhua. "We can even afford to buying two such companies, but we can't send out a proper management team. We are just inexperienced in handling any overseas acquisition."
A number of overseas competitors in the machinery market might have approached Haitian in the past year or two. Haitian didn't produce great financial results in the first half of 2009, although it did post a profit.