Do the Chinese Have a Shopping List?

Is a sucker born every minute in this market, or are the Chinese at last ready to start putting their cash hoards to work? That's how I look at Geely Holding Group's move to buy Ford's (F - commentary - Cramer's Take) "ailing" Volvo unit. I put in the word "ailing" because I couldn't resist the cliche.

If China starts buying now, there could at last be a bid underneath for some properties that may not have much hope right now but which could be worth something down the road. For example, I think the world of the Volvo "brand," and it is worth something -- especially because it would double the size of Geely, which I know of less than I know Heelys (HLYS - commentary - Cramer's Take). (Remember that hot offering at the top of the market?) Oh, and obviously Ford's not in a position to bargain all that hard.

What's important here is that desperate times have at last allowed for desperate bids. I had always viewed the Chinese companies as rather natural bidders for properties, but ever since the aborted Unocal bid a few years ago that ran into political resistance, the country's companies have been lying low, except when it comes to an occasional mineral and resource acquisition.

Given that Chinese companies still have market caps, the moment of the Volvo deal gains real significance. Let's take the two obvious ones. China Mobile (CHL - commentary - Cramer's Take) has a market cap of $115 billion. Couldn't you see that scooping up the $7 billion Motorola (MOT - commentary - Cramer's Take) or even the $54 billion Qualcomm (QCOM - commentary - Cramer's Take). How about PetroChina (PTR - commentary - Cramer's Take) at $263 billion? Given how voracious China is about accumulating oil assets, don't you think the $14 billion Anadarko (APC - commentary - Cramer's Take) or the $16 billion XTO (XTO - commentary - Cramer's Take) would be targets. Certainly there's a chance that these companies are now too unappealing in the Obama regime, but the Chinese tend to take a really long view, so you can only speculate what could happen. I doubt there would be too much congressional resistance these days.

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