General Motors And Tengzhong Sign Definitive Agreement For Sale Of HUMMER
09 October 2009
General Motors and Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd (Tengzhong) have entered into a definitive agreement that will allow Tengzhong to acquire GM’s HUMMER brand.
Tengzhong intends to purchase HUMMER through an investment entity, in which it will hold an 80% stake. Mr. Suolang Duoji, a private entrepreneur with holdings that include the Hong Kong-listed thenardite producer Lumena, will hold the remaining 20% stake. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, the buyer will acquire the ownership of the HUMMER brand, trademark and tradenames, as well as specific IP license rights necessary for the manufacture of HUMMER vehicles. It will also assume the existing dealer agreements relating to HUMMER’s dealership network.
Under the agreement, HUMMER would contract vehicle manufacturing, key components and business services from GM during a defined transitional time period. For example, GM’s Shreveport assembly plant would continue to contract assemble the H3 and H3T and AM General’s Mishawaka assembly plant will continue to assemble the H2. Both facilities will produce the specified vehicles until June 2011, with an optional one year extension until June 2012.
Once the transaction is complete, HUMMER will become the first automaker to offer an alternative fuel powertrain in every model, with the addition of E85 FlexFuel capability in the 2010 H3 and H3T. HUMMER is also in the process of obtaining emissions certification for a diesel H3 that will be introduced in markets outside of North America. The brand’s future product development will focus on improving efficiency and performance in current HUMMER models with alternative fuel powertrains, more efficient gas engines, 6-speed transmissions and diesel engines.
Credit Suisse is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Shearman & Sterling is acting as international legal counsel to Tengzhong on this transaction. Citi is acting as financial advisor to GM.
Tengzhong is one of China’s major privately owned engineering companies. Tengzhong is a manufacturer of heavy machinery equipment with a presence in special-use vehicles, road and bridge construction equipment and construction and energy industry equipment.
I think this is a win-win result. Hummer can be "china-fied" pretty easily by Tengzhong, afterwards its models can be marketed and sold to the emerging Chinese middle class & commercial organizations. There is a massive backcountry in China & Hummer vehicles are much better suited for these areas than a Fortwo, Prius, Escape, etc. GM gets to eject another operation from its balance sheet.
Posted by: ejj | 09 October 2009 at 06:04 PM
Some 215,683 Hummers (H-1 + H2 + H3) were sold in USA between 1992 and 2008.
H-1 (1992-2006) = 12,000
H-2 (2002-2008) = 121,517
H-3 (2006-2008) = 82,166
Sales dropped from 54,052 in 2006 to 20,681 in 2008.
No sale figures for 2009.
Some latter models were built in SA and Russia in the last few years.
The latest H-3 used a GM 4 x 4 platform.
What will be the future of the Hummer H-4?
USA's Armed Forces will certainly get a different vehicle soon, probably a HEV, PHEV or BEV with half the fuel consumption or less.
Posted by: HarveyD | 09 October 2009 at 07:00 PM
They got $150 Million for the division, but had said they thought it could be worth $500 million during the restructuring. They should have said they thought it was worth $900 Million.
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | 09 October 2009 at 09:15 PM
And even more - no one should have cared what they thought it was worth.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 09 October 2009 at 09:46 PM
The symbol of american stupid lifestyle "the bigger the better" sold to chineses, if it wasn't laudable I would really see the decline of a nation in the fall of that ridiculous symbol.
Posted by: Treehugger | 09 October 2009 at 10:30 PM
China originally selected Chrysler/Jeep one of their large SUVs to be built in China because it had utility and they could get the technology to build them as part of the deal.
Why they want Hummer, I haven't a clue. It was rumored that the Russians and Arabs were interested. I guess China has the money, just like Geely wants to buy Volvo. China wanted to buy Maytag and Unocal also, but others made the deals instead.
Posted by: SJC | 10 October 2009 at 09:07 AM