Word: fu
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...board's revolt in March reflects the growing pains that an ambitious Chinese company is going through even as it tries to present a confident face to the world. Indeed, the issue of what CNOOC's board knew and when remains a touchy subject for Fu as the takeover fight progresses. In an interview with TIME, he declined to say exactly when he told his board of his intentions toward Unocal. But the reason for the board's initial ire is clear: according to SEC documents, as far back as December, Fu had directly discussed the possibility of acquiring Unocal...
...Fu downplays the initial discourse with Williamson, saying he was simply talking with someone his company had done business with in the past, and the topic of a possible merger came up only briefly. But the first time Chevron's CEO, David O'Reilly, spoke to Williamson about a possible merger?just weeks after Fu's conversation with Unocal in December?the Chevron chief was politely rebuffed, according to SEC documents. If Unocal was going to be sold, it appears that CNOOC had already been given first dibs...
...less than a month, Fu intended to do just that. But by late March, he still hadn't informed his directors. "He was treating his own board as an afterthought," says one source close to the outside board members. "It was very much the China of 20 years ago in the way the directors were treated initially?where the boss decides and the board just rubber-stamps everything. Why were they treated that way? I don't have a clue...
...ball was in CNOOC's court, and Fu, by all accounts, was confident as his board gathered in Hong Kong. He did not see the rebellion coming, says a banker close to CNOOC. Three key outside directors?former Shell Chemicals CEO Evert Henkes, former Swiss ambassador Schurtenberger, and Courtis of Goldman Sachs?all raised pointed questions at the meeting. According to sources with knowledge of the meeting, Schurtenberger?presciently, as it turned out?questioned whether the company was prepared for what was likely to be a hostile U.S. political reaction to the deal. Henkes wondered about the debt load that...
...meeting was civil?"no one was shouting or pounding the table," says one attendee?but as the questions mounted, it was clear that Fu did not have the board's backing. At least not yet. On April 1 he called Williamson, telling him he needed to do a bit more work with his board but that CNOOC would still make a formal bid in time for another Unocal board meeting the following day. He was mistaken. Schurtenberger, privately, was seething. "For him it was a trust issue," says a friend of his. "Beyond all the questions about strategy or debt...