China companies target brand names

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Chinese companies, which already own the companies that make IBM personal computers and RCA televisions, are trying to add more familiar brands to their arsenal, as seen in offers this week to buy Maytag Corp. and energy company Unocal Corp.

The Chinese government has been urging China's largest companies to be more aggressive in their overseas acquisitions. China is transitioning to capitalism, and government leaders are betting it will be easier for companies to become global corporations if they focus on purchasing well-known brand names instead of trying to build them from scratch.

But analysts said China's expansion in the United States could trigger the kind of political and public backlash not seen since the 1980s, when the Japanese began gobbling up American businesses.

Capitol Hill lawmakers and other Washington officials are already citing concerns about the Chinese expansion here because China is emerging as an economic and military rival to the United States.

Overall, the level of Chinese investment in the United States pales in comparison to what European and other nations own, analysts said.

China is a minor investor in corporate stocks in the United States, although it overshadows other Asian investors in Treasury bonds.

China traded $361.4 billion in Treasury bonds last year, the second-biggest Asian dealer behind Japan, which traded $1.2 trillion.

Chinese companies are pursuing American businesses more aggressively, picking up the Asian subsidiary of telecommunications giant Global Crossing, IBM's PC unit and the RCA brand in recent years.

Similar deals are likely in the future, as Chinese companies chase companies that make established global brands, said Donald H. Straszheim, chairman and chief executive of the Straszheim Global Advisors, a Santa Monica, Calif., research firm.

"This is the beginning," he said.