By Shipwreckedcrew
The basics of this story are not new. In 2015, Bohai Harvest Rosemont — referred to in the media as BHR — announced that it was acquiring a 49% stake in Henniges Automotive, an auto parts manufacturer located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The acquisition was made in partnership with AVIC Automotive Systems Holding Co Ltd, which acquired the other 51% interest in Henniges.
But nothing about the deal is quite what it seemed on its face. AVIC Automotive Systems Holding Co. was a wholly-owned subsidiary of AVIC — Aviation Industry Corporation of China — the largest defense contractor for the Chinese military. AVIC is a government-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate.
The fact that AVIC had an auto parts manufacturing subsidiary is the equivalent of General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin having a subsidiary that went around buying radiator belt manufacturers.
So, who is who, and what exactly happened in the purchase and since then.
BHR describes itself in the press release announcing the acquisition.
BHR, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York, is a Sino-U.S. investment firm….. Officially launched in 2013 as the cross-border investment platform of Bohai Industrial Investment Fund… BHR’s set of international stakeholders reflects the financial prowess of China’s largest financial institutions including Bank of China International, Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, China Development Bank Capital, Ample Harvest (the alternative investment platform of Shanghai Harvest Fund, one of China’s largest mutual funds), and the networks and cross-border excellence of RSB, LLC, a U.S. based boutique investment platform, and Thornton Group LLC, an advisory firm.
Since its inception, BHR’s unique international composition, financial resources, cross-border knowledge and investment philosophy have been warmly received by Chinese and foreign investors alike. Its cross-border team of veteran professionals has been successfully advising and co-investing with China’s leading industrial conglomerates. BHR seeks technologically innovative and financially robust overseas targets in the high-end manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and environmental technology sectors….
RSB, LLC refers to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a company owned by Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. Thornton Group LLC was a Boston based company led by James Bulger, son of longtime Massachusetts House Leader Billy Bulger, a key ally of John Kerry. Devon Archer was John Keery’s co-National Finance Chairman when he ran for President in 2004. Archer was also college roommates at Yale with Kerry’s step-son, Christopher Heinz.
It is reported that RSB and Thornton LLC had a combined 30% interest in BHR, with the remaining 70% controlled by the Chinese financial institutions listed in the press release.
It is important to understand one thing that was referenced quite clearly in the press release — the US-based partners contributed their “networks and cross-border excellence” to the joint-venture. “Networks,””contacts,” “connections” — those are not dirty words in Chinese economic matters. “Who you know” in Chinese affairs often dictates the success or failure fo a business enterprise. The fact that Biden, Archer, and Bulger brought “Networks” that could be exploited to the joint-venture was a feature, not a bug, of the arrangement.
I noted above that AVIC is the largest defense conglomerate in China. It has also been sanctioned by the United States Department of Defense five times since the mid-1990s for seeking to acquire US companies with “dual-use” technologies.
AVIC and its subsidiaries develop and produce a range of aircraft (e.g., fighters, trainers, and helicopters), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and airborne weapons for the People’s Liberation Army
Air Force (PLAAF), People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF), and People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF).AVIC’s airborne weapons and equipment include the Wing Loong family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have the operational capability to reach all of the South China Sea from any Eastern Theater Command drone base and all of the East China Sea from any Southern Theater Command drone base.
– AVIC also produces an export variant of the ship-launched YJ-12 (YingJi/Eagle Strike) anti-ship missiles carried by an array of bombers, fighter jets, and destroyers. The YJ-12B has been deployed in the South China Sea and has the capability to strike vessels within 295 nautical miles, including U.S. aircraft carriers.
AVIC and its subsidiaries have been sanctioned on five separate occasions by the U.S. for proliferation activities that played a key role in enabling Iran to develop its missile capabilities.
– August 1993: Sanctioned for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Administration Act in proliferating missile technology to Pakistan.
– May 2002: Sanctioned for transferring cruise missile components to Iran in violation of the 2000 Iran Nonproliferation Act.
– December 2004: Sanctioned for transferring equipment or technology in violation of the Iran Nonproliferation Act.
– December 2005: Sanctioned for transferring equipment or technology in violation of the Iran Nonproliferation Act.
– December 2006: Sanctioned by the U.S. for transferring equipment or technology in violation of the expanded Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
That is the company that Hunter Biden’s “investment firm” partnered with in 2015 to purchase the Michigan auto parts manufacturer.
The acquisition of Henniges Automotive by BHR and AVIC was announced on September 15, 2015.
Earlier on Friday Brierbart published emails between Devon Archer, Hunter Biden, and Bevan Cooney and Jason Sugarman on the same day, where the subject line said “Proof of Concept!!!”, and the messages celebrated the closing of the Henniges deal.
So, I’m sure some of you are wondering “SWC — what’s the big deal over some bumper maker in Michigan, and why should we care that Hunter Biden made a few extra bucks helping a Chinse company buyout the shareholders at top dollar?”
The problem is that Henniges doesn’t make bumpers or brake pads. Henniges is the leading manufacturer in the world of anti-vibration materials and components used in high-end luxury automobiles. The technology developed as the intellectual property of Henniges and has significant dual-use applications.
Uranium One II?
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