China's Buying Spree Continues

With $2 trillion surplus, China keeps purchasing foreign firms.

A Chinese conglomerate, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group reached an agreement on Sunday for the purchase of the Volvo subsidiary cars off of the U.S. automaker, Ford.

While Ford paid $6 billion to acquire Volvo in 1999, Geely, based in Hangzhou, agreed to pay $1.8 billion for Volvo to Ford with Chinese banks providing the funding.

Such a move should be understood in the larger context of China’s building its technological capacity over the long haul, moving up the value chain.