Chinese trying to buy Ford unit

HANGZHOU, China – Wanxiang, China's largest car-parts maker and one of its most acquisitive companies, is in talks with Ford to buy assets from the U.S. carmaker's troubled components arm.

Lu Guanqiu, founder and chairman of Wanxiang, said the talks were part of a plan to expand the company's global presence. But he would not say which assets it was interested in or whether a deal was imminent.

Mr. Lu said Wanxiang had also been in preliminary discussions this year with Delphi, the former General Motors parts-maker that is in bankruptcy proceedings, but there had been no material results from the talks.

"We have seen that the quality of [Ford's] assets is all right, but because of high labor costs the business is not always profitable," Mr. Lu told the FT.

Wanxiang is understood to be interested in acquiring Ford's advanced design and production technology and in improving prospects for distribution of its own car parts in the US. More at FT.com