The Chinese have their own twist on the adage about not replicating past follies. Chengqianbihou or “Learn from your mistakes to avoid repeating them.”
That seems especially apposite now, as China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the state-controlled group, awaits a final decision on its proposed $18bn take-over of Nexen, one of Canada’s biggest energy companies with assets around the world. For it is only seven years since Cnooc attemp-ted a similarly ambitious deal in the US, only to be spectacularly rebuffed.
In 2005, Chevron offered to buy Unocal, the ninth-biggest US oil company, for $16.7bn excluding debt. But Cnooc, largely unknown in the country, quickly trumped Chevron’s bid with an offer of $18.5bn. The surprise move caught everyone off guard. Energy executives were stunned to see China’s appetite for natural res-ources stretching so far, so fast. US regulators were driven into a rhetorical frenzy in the face of what they perceived as an aggressive Chinese acquirer. And Chevron, thinking it had secured a prized asset, was forced to go on the defensive.