Dubai's $1.2 Bln Bid for U.S. Weapons Maker Delayed (Update3)

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai, which agreed this month to sell its interest in U.S. ports, said its $1.2 billion takeover of a U.K. company with U.S. plants that make military equipment is delayed while the authorities investigate security concerns.

Dubai International Capital LLC, which is owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, and Doncasters Group Ltd. agreed to delay the transaction by as many as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase, Sameer Al Ansari, Dubai International's chief executive, said in an interview today.

``After what happened with Dubai Ports, the government is looking at this deal more closely,'' Al Ansari said after a press conference in Dubai announcing an agreement with HSBC Holdings Plc.

Dubai's bid may ignite a political debate in the U.S. similar to that caused last month by the emirate's $6.8 billion purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. DP World had to agree to sell interests in six U.S. terminals. Revenue from Doncasters' nine U.S. plants, which make parts for tanks and military aircraft, account for about 40 percent of total sales.

``If this deal isn't approved by the U.S., it wouldn't proceed,'' said Angus Blair, chief executive of Mena Financial, a London-based company which advises foreign companies about doing business in the Middle East.

more:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aYviQvnuQG0c

other british stuff's been sold to Carlyle group in recent years. Tony seems to be gutting the country?

My original thought was that its a pump and dump, with this being the dump phase.

52-yearold lawyer Katherine Ward jumping from the Jury's Hotel.

:hi:

:popcorn:

I get the funny feeling that while the "useful idiots" B*sh and Blair have been playing up the boogeymen in Iran/Iraq/Syria the rival rich oil monarchies have been quietly consolidating their power and buying up whatever they can get their hands on (with the complicity of the two B's, in a very clever game of double-bluff).

Published: March 21, 2006
The Dubai government delayed its $1.2 billion purchase of a military equipment maker yesterday, the second time in a month that a takeover by the Middle East emirate has been jeopardized by American security concerns.

Dubai International Capital, owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, said that it would delay its acquisition of the Doncasters Group, a British company that has nine plants in the United States, by as much as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase.

"After what happened with Dubai Ports, the government is looking at this deal more closely," Sameer al-Ansari, Dubai International's chief executive, said in an interview.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21dubai.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&dlbk=&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1142953335-0UG0B5U97RU7Fa1rSYvPtg