ChannelBiz UK

Ingram’s $6bn Chinese takeaway gets key US approval

Ingram Micro has received US clearance for its pending acquisition by China’s Tianjin Tianhai Investment Company.

Both parties have received clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to proceed with the transaction, which had been delayed by CFIUS extended intervention.

The two companies also said that they have received clearance from the anti-trust authorities in Austria, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. But the US clearance is the most important one as far as the $6 billion deal is concerned.

In the past, CFIUS has prevented Chinese companies from buying key US technology companies, sometimes on national security grounds.

The “merger” remains subject to approval from China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and other closing conditions. But the two companies continue to expect the transaction to “close in 2016”, whereby Ingram Micro will become part of HNA Group.

HNA is a leader in aviation, tourism and logistics, and the largest stockholder of acquisition vehicle Tianjin Tianhai.

@AntonySavvas

Antony Savvas

York, UK-based Antony Savvas has been a technology journalist for 25 years and has expertise in all major areas of enterprise and consumer IT. He has worked for a number of leading technology magazines and websites and his work is syndicated across the internet. He also undertakes corporate work for some of the world's leading technology companies.