China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery has again denied a news report earlier this week that its application to buy GM’s Hummer division has been turned down by government officials.
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“We continue to discuss with GM on the deal… and we are still proceeding with getting approval from the commerce ministry,” a Tengzhong spokeswoman told the AFP news agency.
The Legal Evening News, a semi-official Chinese newspaper, had on Monday said the ministry had already rejected Tengzhong’s application to acquire Hummer because it lacked information.
But the commerce ministry, one of the government departments tasked with approving overseas acquisitions by Chinese firms, said on Wednesday it had not yet received any formal application from Tengzhong.
A Tengzhong spokeswoman yesterday told Reuters the Legal Evening News had never contacted the company for comment and had promised to remove the article from its website. She added that Tengzhong was in no position to comment on regulatory approval for the deal, but talks to buy Hummer were moving forward.
GM and Tengzhong signed a tentative agreement over the sale of the Hummer name in June. In August, GM said negotiations were still underway.
Tengzhong specialises in manufacturing heavy machinery, mainly for road and bridge construction.
