Word: biddings
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...June 30 Congress, trying to gum up the regulatory process, overwhelmingly passed a resolution preventing the U.S. Treasury from spending any money to "approve" CNOOC's bid. In response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman?representing a government elected by no one?felt compelled to say publicly that Congress should butt out. Economic tensions with China were already front and center for many Congressmen, obsessed as they have been all year with China's surging trade surplus and a currency that was not revalued until July 21, and the Foreign Ministry did CNOOC no favors in Washington by weighing...
...Sometimes CNOOC's high-paid bankers were no more helpful than its Beltway advisers. Two principal lines of attack for Chevron's allies were that the CNOOC bid was effectively subsidized by sweetheart loans from the government, and that there was no "level playing field"?that is to say, a U.S. energy company could not acquire one of its competitors in China. Both points were, in fact, true. But earlier this summer leaks began appearing in the financial press?and word was spread around Washington?that there wasn't "one dime of [Chinese] government money" involved in the deal...
...Still, it took a while, one CNOOC board member says, for "reality to impinge." As late as three weeks ago, Fu and his bankers were still gung-ho, preparing to bid between $72 and $73 per share for Unocal?up from their initial $67 offer. Then, on July 19, came word that CNOOC's largest private shareholder, investment firm William Blair & Co. in Chicago, was dumping its entire stake in CNOOC?$141 million?fearful that Fu would overpay for Unocal. "We're not in favor of the bid," said David Merjan, a fund manager at the firm...
...From the outset, one of the mysteries surrounding CNOOC's bid was the precise nature of Beijing's role in it. Fu always insisted that the Chinese government had no involvement, but that, to many observers, seemed implausible. Chinese energy companies have been scouring the globe for resources under the government's "go out" policy. One source close to CNOOC's top management believes the government "tolerated" the bid. But once it became clear that CNOOC's ambitions had become a flash point in an already tense relationship with the U.S., whatever enthusiasm there was began to wane...
...Unocal's board had, on July 21, reaffirmed its commitment to Chevron after its CEO, David O'Reilly, had sweetened his offer. On August 10, Unocal's shareholders were to choose between the two suitors. Rather than increase his bid, as his bankers urged, Fu folded. By the end of the August 4 meeting with his board in Beijing, the mood had lightened somewhat. "You got the sense that we were at least beginning to look at this whole episode in a slightly different way," says one participant. Already, there is speculation in the markets about who else the Chinese...