Friday, April 28, 2006

Dubai company's purchase of American manufacturing plants approved

It's not going to be nearly the fiasco the ports deal was, but it sure got some intense scrutiny. I'm mean even Chuck Schumer said it got thoroughly reviewd, so you know he'll change his mind here shortly and hammer Dubya for approving the deal.

Forbes - President Bush has approved the takeover by a Dubai-owned company of American plants that make parts for jets and tanks after a review that seems to have satisfied lawmakers who helped block an earlier Dubai deal.

Bush said Friday the proposed sale of a U.S. subsidiary of a British precision engineering firm to the Dubai company "has been looked at very carefully." He said he had signed off on the transaction after receiving recommendations from the Pentagon and a committee that reviews security-related sales to foreign entities.

[...] Doncasters has nine plants in the United States, including two each in Connecticut and Alabama and one each in Massachusetts, South Carolina, Georgia, California and Oregon. It makes precision components and assemblies for such companies as Boeing Co., Pratt & Whitney and General Electric Co.


Apparently a subsidiary of Doncasters is the Department of Defense's primary supplier of turbine engine blades which was enough for CFIUS to be extra-sooper-dooper cautious when reviewing this sale giving it the extra 45 day review on top of the normal 30 days before recommending the sale to Dubya.

So a Dubai firm can oversee manufacturing of parts for our troops, but they can't oversee longshoremen as they unload cargo ships. Interesting.